Miley the Vampire Slayer
by MileyLoonaticsFan96
Summary: In an alternate reality where Miley is a Slayer and was called in Buffy's place, what will happen? A series of one-shots based on the first season of "Buffy" with more to come later.
1. Welcome to the HellMouth 1

Miley the Vampire Slayer

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Hell-Mouth

It was late at night in Malibu. Sea-view High School was closed down and quiet. That is, until someone smashed open a window in the biology lab. In came a young boy and a blonde girl who looked about his age. They came in through the window and walked out to the hall.

"Are you sure this is safe?" asked the girl.

"Relax, no one's here at night," said the boy, "We're perfectly fine."

The girl gasped and turned around so that her back was facing him. "What was that?"

"What?"

"I heard something."

"HELLO?" The boy waited a few seconds. Nothing. "There's no one here."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Good." The girl turned back to face him. Her eyes had turned golden, she had grown fangs, and her face was…distorted. She hissed and bit deep into his neck. They both dropped to the ground, the boy slowly losing all his blood and dying. The building was empty, so no one could hear his screams.

* * *

The next morning, just before school, Oliver Oken was on his skateboard, gliding through a crowd of students. "Excuse me!" he shouted to the students who surrounded him like bowling pins, "Coming through! Watch your foot!" As he made his way through the crowd, a new girl he had never seen before came up. She had sparkling blue eyes and curly brown hair. "Whoa…" Oliver got so caught up in staring at her as she made her way up the steps onto the campus that he ran into the stairway railing.

"Oh, Oliver!" Lilly Truscott, Oliver's best friend, came running up to help him. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Oliver, standing up and taking off his pads.

Lilly kicked the board so that it flew into her hands. "I believe this is yours?"

Oliver took it back. "Thanks, Lil."

Oliver's buddy, Jesse, came up. "Hey, did you see the new girl?"

"Saw her, stared at her, skated into the railway because of her," said Oliver as he started to make his way up the steps with Lilly and Jesse. Oliver stuffed his pads into his backpack and left his board next to the bike locks. The 3 of them made their way into the building and got ready to go to class when the bell rang.

* * *

"So, miss…" the principal said to the new girl. The 2 of them were sitting in his office.

"Miley. Miley Stewart."

"Right, Ms. Stewart," said the principal, "From Hemery High in Nashville. Quite some move. Anyway, good grades, interesting record…" He then took the pages in her permanent record and tore them in half. "Welcome to Malibu! A clean slate, young Miley, is what I intend for you to get here. What's past is past. We're not interested in…" He grabbed one of the pieces of paper from her records and read it. "Whoa."

"Mr. Flutie--"

"Students here are free to call me 'Bob'."

"Bob…"

"But they don't."

Miley was kind of glad about that. It felt weird to be calling a teacher by his first name. "I know my transcripts are a little…colorful."

"Are you sure that 'colorful' is the word and not…" He got out some tape and started to reassemble the pages. "…'dismal'?"

"Hey, it wasn't as bad as my brother!"

"You burned down the gym."

"I know, but in my defense, that gym was full of Vamp…" She caught herself. "I mean, it, uh…uh…"

"Don't worry about it. You're not here to be judged. You're here to learn. So, go forth and matriculate."

* * *

Miley was in history class. She liked history the least. Even that Flutie guy said "what's past is past." So why learn about the past? You don't need to know why the 13th Amendment was adopted to learn how to sing. That's right, sing.

Miley's dad was going to move her and her brother, Jackson, to Franklin, Tennessee, but Miley wanted to be a singer. And she had signed a recording contract the week before as Hannah Montana, which was going to be her stage name so that she would be able to be famous and lead a normal life at the same time.

It wasn't until the teacher asked the students to read something that Miley realized she had forgotten to pick up her school books. She desperately searched through her backpack for something that would help. Just when she was about to give up, the girl sitting next to her, a brunette with dark-colored skin, held up her book in between their desks. "Thanks," Miley whispered.

"No problem," the girl whispered back.

After the bell rang and the students started picking up their stuff and leaving, the girl and a brunette with light skin and soy bean eyes came up to Miley.

"Hey," Miley said when she saw them, "Thanks for letting me borrow your book. I'm going to go to the library right now to get one of my own."

"You're welcome," said the dark-skinned girl, "I'm Amber Addison and this is my friend, Ashley."

"I'm Miley Stewart."

The 3 girls then stopped walking. Amber had noticed Lilly over at the water fountain. "Oh, this ought to be good." She walked over to Lilly. "Truscott, hi. I like your dress, good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears."

"Actually, my mom picked this out," Lilly responded, standing up straight.

"No wonder you're such a guy magnet," said Ashley. She laughed. "Are you done?"

Lilly walked off and allowed Ashley to use the water fountain.

Miley followed after the blonde girl to apologize for Amber and Ashley and ask her where the library was. Just as she turned a corner, she ran into Oliver. "I am so sorry!" she said, getting up from the ground and noticing that she had dropped all her stuff on the floor.

"That's OK, I wasn't looking where I was going," said Oliver.

"Well, neither was I," said Miley, getting down on the floor to pick up her stuff.

"Need some help?" asked Oliver.

"No thanks," said Miley, picking up her last book and getting up from the floor, "I'm good. Where's the library?"

Oliver pointed her in the right direction. She nodded and walked off. Oliver then noticed that she had left one of her things on the floor. "Oh, hey, you forgot your…stake?" He picked up the pointy, wooden stick and walked off in the other direction to look for Lilly and tell her what had happened.

Miley came to the library. She opened the door to see a clear, open study area and a couple stairways that led up to the bookshelves. "Hello?" she called out, listening to the echo in hopes that the librarian might show up, "Is anybody here?" She walked over to the table in the study area. She turned around and saw a tall man in glasses standing behind her. She almost jumped in shock, but managed to retain her composure long enough to breathe.

"Can I help you?" asked the librarian, walking over to the checkout counter.

"Yeah, I'm looking for…some books. I'm new and forgot to pick up my stuff."

"No problem. You must be Miss Stewart. I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian."

"I figured as much. First of all, I need 'Perceptives on 20th Century…'"

"Oh, don't bother. I know what you're looking for." Mr. Giles ducked down behind the counter and came up with a book. He laid it on the counter and she saw that it was simply an old book with "Vampyr" written in golden printing on the front cover.

"That's not what I'm looking for," said Miley, backing up from the counter slightly.

"Really?" Mr. Giles took the book back. "My mistake." He ducked back under the counter to put it back. "So, what was it you…" He got back up and saw that she had already left.

* * *

Miley came into the cafeteria and saw Lilly sitting alone a nearby table. She got her lunch and went over to sit with her. "Hi."

"Uh…hi?" Lilly put down her fork. "Why are you talking to me? Aren't you hanging with Amber and Ashley?"

"I can't do both?" Miley asked, confused.

Lilly scoffed. "Not by law!"

Oliver and Jesse came up then. "Hey, Lil!" They then noticed Miley.

"Uh, this is Oliver and Jesse," Lilly introduced them to Miley, "Guys, this is, uh…"

"Miley Stewart." She then saw that Oliver was the one she has run into in the hall. "So, you're name's Oliver."

"Yeah, and that reminds me…" Oliver got the stake out of his bag. "…I think this is yours." Miley quickly took it back. "The only thing I can think of is that you're building a really little fence."

Miley faked a giggle. "It's, uh…for self-defense. Pepper spray is so passé in Nashville."

"I'll try to remember that," said Jesse, sitting down next to Lilly.

Amber and Ashley then came up.

"Are these guys bothering you?" Amber asked Miley.

"No…"

"Well, I feel compelled to inform all 4 of you that Miley here won't be meeting Coach Foster today," said Amber, "Gym class was cancelled on account of the dead guy."

"There's a dead guy?" Oliver asked, shocked.

"Yeah," said Ashley, "There was a body stuffed in Aura's locker."

"Where there any marks?" Miley asked, "Do we know how he died?"

"Ew, morbid much?" Ashley asked, disgusted, "How would we know something like that?"

Miley gathered up her stuff. "I have to go." She left.

"What's her deal?" asked Amber.

Oliver, Lilly, and Jesse all shrugged.

* * *

Miley came into the library. Giles was in the stacks (the bookshelves for those of you who don't know). "OK, what's going on?"

"What?"

"You did hear about the dead guy that was stuffed in that girl's locker, right?" Miley asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes…"

"Funny thing, all his blood was drained…through 2 little holes in his neck."

Giles groaned and put down the books he was carrying. "I was afraid of this."

"Well, _I_ wasn't!" Miley complained, "It's my first day! What _I_ was afraid of was that I'd be behind in all my classes! Now I have to deal with some Vampires?"

"Wait, then why did you come all the way here from Nashville?"

"To make a new start after being kicked out of school. Plus, I kind of wanted to be a singer and I've already signed a recording contract. I can't be dealing with a bunch of blood-suckers who are just waiting for me to come out and slay them!"

"Will the boy rise again?"

"No, he's just dead. To make you a Vampire, they have to suck your blood. Then _you_ have to drink some of _their_ blood. Blah, blah, blah, it's just one whole big suck-fest. One that I don't want to have anything to do with so, in the words of my annoying brother, Jackson, good day."

"Miss Stewart…"

"I said 'good day', Giles!" She did a great imitation of her brother. "Why should I be the one to deal with this?"

"Because you are the Vampire Slayer. In every generation, there is born one girl, a Chosen One, and she alone will have the strength to fight…"

"To fight the Vampires, vanquish all evil, and save the day. Whoo-hoo! If it's so easy, why don't you do it and let me have my half-normal life?"

"I'm a Watcher. A Slayer slays, a Watcher…"

"Watches?"

"Yes. No! A Watcher trains her, prepares her."

"For what? Leading the lives of the people closest to me into chaos? Allowing countless people to get hurt or even die and know I'm the one to blame for it? Getting kicked out of school and losing all my friends? Go ahead, prepare me." Giles said nothing. Miley walked out of the library and Giles followed her. Neither of them noticed Oliver hiding in the stacks, listening to the whole conversation.

Giles had cornered Miley in the hall. "I don't understand why you have this…attitude. You've already accepted your duty. You faced the Vampires before. It's getting worse."

"What is?"

"The influx of the dead. I fear that a very dark power may be arising here."

"This is Malibu. What kind of 'danger of the dead' could be arising here?"

* * *

In a very dark cavern underneath their very feet, a bunch of candles were lit. A Vampire stood in the center of the cavern. "The sleeper will awake…the sleeper will awake…the sleeper will awake, and the world will bleed."

* * *

Miley was in her room, going through her clothes. The kids at school had told her about a cool club in town called the Bronze and she was getting ready to go check it out. She held up a shiny black dress. "Hello, I'm an enormous brat!" She threw that dress on the floor and picked up a blue floral dress. "Hi, would you like a copy of 'the Watchtower'?" She lowered the dress so that it was dragging on the floor and groaned. "I used to be so good at this." She heard a knock at the door. She threw her dress on her bed and said, "Come in! Unless it's Jackson!"

Her dad opened the door. "It's just me." He walked in and closed the door. "I came in to say…whoa, Nellie!" Her floor was covered entirely in dresses that she had decided were out of style. "Did a twister form in your closet? I can't see the floor!"

"Sorry, Daddy, I'll pick it up," Miley said, picking up some of the dresses and laying them back in the closet, "I'm trying to decide what dress to wear to a club."

"Will there be boys?"

"No, Dad, it's a nun club," Miley said, sarcastically as she kept picking up the dresses from her floor.

"I get it, darling," her dad said, "You've been working hard lately with the adjustment in a new town, we just finished settling in, it was your first day at school today, and you got to sign your first recording contract last week. I'm so proud of you and--"

"I get it, Dad," said Miley. She picked up another dress and groaned in disgust. "When did I buy that?" She tossed it into the closet as though she couldn't bear to touch it.

"Mile, I bought that."

"Oh…love it!" Miley quickly moved on.

"It's OK. You just go have fun. Live your own life. Your mom would have been so proud of you."

"Thanks, Daddy."

Miley's dad left the room and Jackson came in. "So, Dad still doesn't know you're the Slayer, hmm?"

"Jackson, I'm not going to tell him. You found out by accident and I expect for it to stay that way. Turns out that a new librarian came to the school on the exact same day as me and he's now my new Watcher."

"Wow. And now you're planning on letting go of your Slayer duties to go to some club."

"Are you asking to go on patrolling in my place?"

Jackson scoffed and started laughing. "Yeah, right! Me, in battle? You just move on with your Slayer/singer life and I'll continue to slack my way through life as I start college."

"Just get out of my room and move the car out front!" Miley pushed him out and closed the door behind him. Just then, the perfect dress caught her eye. "Finally!"

* * *

Miley got out of her car about a block away from the club. She started to walk down the street to the Bronze, but she heard something.

A tall man in a leather coat came out of a nearby alleyway. When he looked around the street, Miley was gone. Just as he was about to leave, Miley jumped out of nowhere and landed on him. She got up and pinned him to the ground with her foot on his stomach. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

"Yeah, there's a problem! Why are you stalking me?"

"I know what you're thinking. I don't bite."

Miley backed off and let him stand up. "What do you want?"

"The same thing you do."

"And that would be…"

"To kill them. To kill them all."

Miley imitated a buzzer. "Wrong answer. But you do get a fabulous $10 as a consolation prize. What I want is to be left alone!" She started to walk off.

"It's not that easy to get around it. You're standing at the Mouth of Hell and it's about to open." She turned around to face him. He took a small box out of his pocket. "You can't turn your back on this, you've gotta be ready." He tossed the box to her and she caught it perfectly.

"For what?"

"For the Harvest."

"And who are you again?"

"A friend." He walked off.

Miley opened the box and saw a chain with a silver cross. She pulled it out and put the box in her purse, putting the chain around her neck.

* * *

Miley came into the Bronze and caught sight of Lilly at the bar. She went over to her. "Hey!"

Lilly turned to face her. "Hi!"

Miley sat down on the stool next to her. "Are you here with someone?"

"No, I thought that Oliver might show up."

"Do you 2 have a thing going?"

"Not like a boyfriend-girlfriend thing or a holding-hands thing or a…any-relationship-at-all thing. We're just friends, but I kind of like him. We used to go out, but we broke up."

"Why?"

"He stole my Barbie." Miley gave her a confused look. "Oh, we were 5. I didn't even like-him-like-him. I only held his hand because I wanted his crayons. He had the 64 pack! With the sharpener!"

"Well, you can't just keep waiting for one guy to come around. He may not feel the same way and he may not be the right guy. My motto? 'Life is short. Seize the moment, because tomorrow you might be dead.'"

"That's good advice."

Miley smiled and then caught sight of Giles on the upper level. "I'll be right back." She got up and went up the stairs to him. "What are you doing here? Partying with the students?"

"Oh, right, this is me having fun," said Giles, "I'd rather be at home with a good book and a cup of tea."

"Is that what you British guys do every night? You need a personality, stat!"

"This is a perfect breeding ground for Vampires. Dark, crowded…you need to be ready to face them."

"I know, the Harvest is coming. Your friend told me."

"What?"

"The Harvest? That mean something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank."

"I don't know…Who told you this?"

"I don't know. Some guy. I figured you knew him."

"No, I don't believe I do.…The Harvest…did he say anything else?"

"Something about the Mouth of Hell."

Giles looked down at the kids that crowded the whole building. "Look at them. Completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

"Lucky them."

"Or, perhaps you're right. Perhaps, there is no real danger and the signs are wrong. It's not like you've been having the nightmares."

"'Nightmares'? What nightmares?"

"The Slayer nightmares that warn you and other Slayers of coming danger. It's not rare, you know."

Miley was silent for a few minutes before changing the subject. "I didn't say I'd never slay another Vampire. It's not like I suddenly like them. I'm just not going to get obsessed with it."

"Will you be ready? There's more to them then you know. A Vampire appears to be completely normal until it's time for them to feed. But a Slayer should be able to see them anyway, without looking and without even thinking. Can you tell if there is a Vampire in the building?"

"Uh…" Miley searched frantically for someone who seemed like a Vampire to her.

"Just concentrate. Hone in on their--"

"There's one." Miley pointed at a guy in the crowd.

"Where?"

"Talking to that girl. I mean, look at his jacket! He's got the sleeves rolled up…and his shirt! I mean, deal with the outfit for a moment!"

"Well, yes, but you didn't…hone."

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"That girl he's talking to is Lilly!"

Giles took a closer look and realized that, indeed, the girl that the guy was talking to was none other than the blonde sophomore named Lillian Truscott. "What's she doing?"

"Seizing the moment." Miley ran down to help her. When she got down there, Lilly and the guy were already gone. She went outside and looked around. She got out her stake. When she heard movement in the door next to where she was standing, she quickly turned around and held the stake up as a threat. Only after the girl yelped in surprise and pinned herself to the wall did she realize who it was. "Amber!"

"What is your problem?" Miley quickly left. "I have to call everyone I have ever met, right now!"

Miley came back to the door that led into the Bronze and met Giles there.

"Wow, that was quick. I need to go the library and research on that Harvest thing…"

"I didn't find them." Miley stuffed the stake back in her purse.

"The Vampire is not dead?"

"No, but my social life is going down the tubes." She imitated a toilet flushing to make her point.

"So what do we do?"

"I don't know…maybe it wasn't a Vampire. Maybe I was wrong."

"Maybe. Do you need me to come with you?"

"Don't worry. One Vampire? I can handle it." She left and Giles left as well.

Just behind them, Jesse was talking to a girl. "So, what's your name?"

The girl turned around to reveal herself as the Vampire that had attacked that boy the night before. "Darla."

"You know, I haven't seen you around here before."

"I have family here."

"Have I met them?"

"You probably will."

* * *

The Vampire was still in the caverns. An alpha Vamp appeared in front of him. "Master!"

"I am weak."

"'In the Harvest, he shall be restored.'"

"The Harvest…"

"We're almost there. Soon, you will be free."

"I must be ready. I need my strength."

"I've sent servants to bring you food."

"Good. Luke?"

"Yes, Master?"

"Bring in something…young."

* * *

Lilly was walking down a dark street next to a cemetery with the guy she had met in the Bronze. "Sure is dark."

"It's night."

"Well, night is dark." She looked around and saw that he was headed into the cemetery. "Uh, isn't the ice cream parlor the other way?"

"I know a shortcut."

Lilly sighed and followed him.

* * *

Outside the Bronze, Miley was still looking for Lilly.

Oliver came up behind her. "Hey." Miley turned to face him. "Are you leaving?"

"I'm looking for Lilly. She left with a guy."

"Wow, I hope he's not a Vampire. 'Cause then you'd have to slay him."

Miley groaned in anger. "Isn't there a single person on this earth that doesn't know I'm the Slayer? Was there, like, a school bulletin? 'Hey, everybody! The new girl, Miley Stewart, is a Vampire Slayer. Treat her with respect.'"

"What about Lilly?"

Miley caught herself. "Right. Where do you think they could have gone? If we don't find her, there's going to be another dead body in the morning!"

* * *

Lilly and the guy she was with came into the mausoleum.

"Ever been in one of these?" asked the guy.

"No," said Lilly, "Shouldn't we be going to the ice cream parlor? They tend to close early."

"Come on," said the guy, brushing her hair away from her neck, "What are you afraid of?" He started to move in on her neck.

"OK, just stop it! I barely know you!" Lilly sighed. "I'm just gonna go."

"Is that what you think?"

Before Lilly could ask him what he meant, Darla came in and blocked the entrance. She scoffed and turned to the guy. "Is this the best you could do, Thomas?"

"She's fresh!"

"And hardly enough to share."

"Then why didn't you bring your own?"

Darla smiled. "I did."

Jesse stumbled into the mausoleum. He was weak from blood loss and holding onto his neck.

"Jesse!" Lilly went up to him and helped him stand up.

"I got hungry on the way," Darla explained.

"Jesse, we have to get out of here," Lilly said.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere," said Darla, "Not until…" She turned into her Vampire form. "…we've fed."

Lilly screamed, letting Jesse fall to the ground and then stumbled over him and fell down next to him.

"Well, this is nice."

Darla turned around and saw Miley and Oliver in the entrance.

"It's a little barren and rusty," said Miley, "But a couple splashes of paint, a few throw pillows, and you can call it home!"

"Who are you?" asked Darla.

"You mean, there's actually somewhat who doesn't know already?" asked Miley, sighing in relief, "That's a relief. You know, having a secret identity in this town is terribly difficult."

"Uh, Miley, isn't now the time where we run?" asked Oliver.

"Not yet," said Thomas. He vamped out as well.

"OK, we can do this the hard way or…actually, there's just the hard way."

"I'm OK with that," said Darla.

"Really? Are you sure? 'Cause we're talking violence, strong language, adult content…" Darla attempted to kick her, but she dodged it easily. "Nice try. My turn!" The fighting began.

While Miley was battling with Darla and Thomas, Oliver helped Lilly and Jesse up and started to lead them out of the mausoleum.

"Now," said Miley, taking out her stake, "first things first…" She pierced Thomas' heart and he turned to dust. "…Vampires die." Darla came up behind her and she started to fight with him.

Oliver, Lilly, and Jesse had gotten out of the mausoleum and were about to leave the cemetery, but they found themselves surrounded by Vampires.

Miley knocked Darla to the ground. "You know, I just wanted to start over and be like everybody. Get some new friends, maybe a dog…"

"Who are you?"

"Don't you know?"

At that moment, Luke came up behind her and grabbed her by the neck. "I don't care!" He threw her into the wall on the other side of the mausoleum. "You were supposed to bring an offering for the Master!"

"We had offerings, but she came along and they got away. She killed Thomas!"

"Enough, Darla. Go. I'll handle her." Darla left. "You may be strong…" He punched her and she went flying into the other wall. "…but I'm stronger." He punched her again. "You're wasting my time!"

"Hey, I had other plans, too, alright?" She kicked him and got nothing but a pain in her knee, ankle, and toes.

He took advantage of her weak moment and launched her into the coffin in the center of the mausoleum. "You think you can stop me? Stop us?" He got in the coffin on top of her and pinned her down. "You have no idea what you're dealing with." He moved in on her neck to take the bite.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**


	2. The Harvest 2

Chapter 2: The Harvest

Luke leaned in for the bite, but he suddenly backed off, crying out in pain. Miley was wearing her silver cross necklace and he had touched it. She took advantage of his weak moment and knocked him back, out of the coffin. She ran out of the mausoleum and saw Lilly being attacked by a Vampire.

"Get him off me!" Lilly screamed.

The Vampire leaned in for the bite, but Miley pulled him away and punched him in the face, knocking him back long enough to get Lilly away and save Oliver. When all the Vampires were gone, Lilly and Oliver looked around for Jesse.

"Where is he?" Lilly asked.

"I don't know," said Oliver, "They had me surrounded. I think I saw some guys take him off."

"Which way?" asked Miley.

"I don't know," said Oliver.

"Jesse…" Lilly was frightened by the thought of what could happen to him…what could be happening to him at that moment.

* * *

Miley, Oliver, and Lilly met Giles in the library.

"This world is older than any of you know," said Giles, "Untold eons of demons have walked the earth since before 'Adam and Eve' came into existence and made it their home. They lost control and made way for the mortals to come in. All that remains of the original world are certain magics…"

"And Vampires," Miley finished.

"OK, this is where I have a problem," said Oliver, "We're having a talk about Vampires."

"Well, isn't that what we saw last night?" asked Lilly.

"Oh, no," said Miley, sarcastically, "No, those weren't Vampires, those were just guys in terrible need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies. And that guy turning to dust? Probably just a…trick of the light." Oliver gave her a look and Lilly stared at her, confused. "That's what I told myself the first time I saw a Vampire…well, after I was done screaming."

"OK, now I need to sit down," said Lilly.

"Uh, you are sitting," said Miley.

"Oh, yay, good for me."

"So, Vampires are demons?" Oliver asked.

"The books say that the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human and mixed their blood," Giles explained, "He was still in human form, but he was possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another and they bit another and so they walk the earth, feeding. Some they just kill, some they mix blood with and transform into more of their kind. They are, in essence, waiting for the 'animals' to die out and the old kind to take over."

* * *

In the cavern in the sewers, Darla and Luke were forcing Jesse into the Master's lair. They finally reached the Master.

"Is this for me?" he asked.

"An offering, Master," Luke answered.

"He's a good one!" Darla said, "His blood is pure!"

"You've tasted." Darla looked at her feet, ashamed of her actions. "I am your faithful dog. You bring me scraps."

"I…I didn't mean to…" Darla protested.

"I have waited," said the Master, "For 3 score years, I've waited. While you come and go, I'm stuck here. My ascension is almost at hand. You better pray that when it comes…" He took Darla's neck. "…I'm in a better mood."

"There was a girl, Master," said Luke, "She fought well and knew of our breed. Do you think she might be…"

"A Slayer!"

* * *

"And what would that be?" asked Oliver.

"For as long as there have been Vampires," Giles explained, "there has been a Chosen One. One girl in all of the world with the strength to fight the Vampires."

"He loves doing this part," Miley groaned.

"Alright, I'll give you the short version," said Giles, "The Slayer hunts Vampires, Miley is a Slayer, don't tell anyone."

"So, how do you kill them?" asked Lilly.

"Oh, you don't, I do," Miley corrected, getting up from her chair.

"Hey, Jesse's my--" Oliver started.

"Jesse is my responsibility," Miley added, "I let him get taken."

"That's not true!" Oliver protested.

"If you hadn't shown up, they would have taken us, too!" Lilly argued. She then thought about what she had just said. "Does anyone mind if I pass out?"

"Breathe," Oliver said. Lilly whimpered. "Breathe."

Lilly took a deep breath. "OK. Feeling better now."

Miley turned to Giles. "This big guy, Luke…he talked about an 'offering to the Master'. Now, I don't know what or who he was talking about, but if they weren't just plain feeding, Jesse may still be alive and I'm gonna find him."

"Uh, this may be a dumb question," Lilly said, "but shouldn't we call the police?"

"And they'd believe us?" asked Oliver.

"Well, we don't have to say 'Vampires'," said Lilly, "We can just say that there was a…bad man."

"They couldn't handle it even if they did show up," objected Miley, "They'd only come out with guns."

"And you have no idea where they took Jesse?" asked Giles.

"No," Miley said, "I just looked around and they were clear of the graveyard. They must have…_VROOM!_"

"They can fly?" Oliver said, amazed.

"They can drive," Miley corrected, crankily.

"Oh."

"I don't remember hearing a car," said Lilly.

"Then maybe they went underground," Giles suggested.

"Vampires really jam on sewer systems," said Miley, "That's how they get around when the sun's out. But I didn't see any access in the graveyard."

"Well, there's an electrical tunnel that runs through the whole town," said Lilly.

"If we had a…diagnostic of the tunnel system," Giles said, "it might indicate a meeting place.

"We so don't have time to go looking for that," said Miley.

"Uh, guys?" Lilly said, "There may be another way."

* * *

"So there is a new Slayer," the Master said, "Have you any proof?"

"Only that she fought well," said Luke, "She fought me and yet lives."

"I'd say that's enough proof," said the Master, "She must not interfere with the Harvest.

"I will never let that happen!" Luke objected.

"Don't worry, Luke," said the Master, "We have something she wants. She'll come to us. If she is a Slayer, then she'll come looking for this boy."

"Congratulations, boy," said Luke, grabbing Jesse by the neck, "I thought of you nothing but a meal. But you've just been upgraded to bait." He gave Jesse to the Master.

* * *

Miley, Giles, and Oliver surrounded Lilly as she pulled up a schematic of the town's tunnel system on a computer in the library.

"There it is," said Miley, "It runs right under the graveyard. But I don't see any access."

"Wait, these city plans are just open to the public?" Giles asked.

"Uh…actually, I kind of stumbled on them when I…accidentally decrypted the city council security system," Lilly explained.

"Well, there's nothing here," said Miley, "It's useless." She sat down in a huff.

"I think you're being a bit hard on yourself," said Giles.

"You're the one who told me that I wasn't prepared for this," said Miley, "Understatement of the century! I thought I was about to win. I had that Darla girl cornered, but then that monster named Luke just came out of nowhere and attacked…me…He didn't come out of nowhere. I was facing the entrance and he came up behind me and then didn't follow me out! The entrance to the sewer system is in the mausoleum! Darla must have taken Jesse and doubled back while I was getting you guys away from the Vampires." She groaned in frustration. "I am so stupid!"

"So what's the plan?" asked Oliver, "We go after them and bust him out?"

"There's the 'we' again," Miley said, "What's with the 'we'? 'Me' is the Slayer and 'me' is going to save Jesse. This is too dangerous for you guys."

"Well, then you can help me," Giles suggested, "I've been researching the Harvest and it's something of a blood massacre. But I'm still fuzzy on the details. Can Lilly here research it for me on the…'net?"

"I can do that," said Lilly, beginning to type furiously.

"In the meantime," Miley said, grabbing her bag, "I'm going off to save Jesse."

"Do I have to tell you to be careful?" asked Giles. Miley gave him a look and left.

* * *

Miley snuck up to the gate that led off campus.

"We're not leaving school grounds, are we?"

Miley turned around and saw the principal. "Mr. Flutie! No, of course, I'm not. I'm just…admiring the fence. That is some quality fence-work."

"Good," said Mr. Flutie, "Because if you were going off campus, after being kicked out of your last school for delinquent behavior…Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"Uh, Mr. Giles, the librarian, wanted me to get a book for him," Miley said, quickly thinking up an excuse, "I had free period and I'm a big reader so I thought I'd swing by the book store and get it for him. Just ask him. He'll back me up."

"Well, maybe that's how they do it in Britain, but you can't leave campus while school is in session." He closed the gate and locked it. "Got it?"

Miley groaned. "Got it." Mr. Flutie left. "Does the fate of the world and the life of another student qualify as a reason to leave and slay some Vampires?" She shook her head in disgust and rolled her eyes. When she was sure he was gone, she snuck down the fence a ways and climbed over it, jumping onto the other side.

* * *

Miley came to the mausoleum and found the entrance to the sewer system. It was locked and blocked off with chains. She groaned and started to wrestle with it. She heard someone come up behind her and turned around to see the guy who had stalked her in the alleyway the night before. "Hi. I don't suppose you would happen to have key, do you?"

"They really don't like me dropping in."

"I wonder why."

"I did expect you to figure out the entryway sooner or later, but I expected it to be a little sooner."

"Sorry to keep you waiting. You know, if you're going to be popping up on a regular basis will this 'Cryptic Wise Man' act, could you at least tell me your name?"

"Angel."

"Angel. Nice name. So, tunnels."

"You probably shouldn't go down there."

Miley rolled her eyes again. "I have a friend down there, Angel," she said, saying his name as though she was disgusted to mention it, "Or at least a potential friend. Deal with my going."

"The Harvest is tonight. Unless you can prevent it, the Master walks."

"Then why don't you stop it?"

Angel hesitated. "I'm afraid." Miley rolled her eyes again and turned back to the tunnel. "They'll be expecting you."

"And I them." She kicked the doors open. "Do you even know what it's like to have a friend?"

He looked down, somewhat sad. "When you get to the tunnels, head east toward the school. You'll most likely find them there."

"Aren't you gonna wish me luck?" Both of them were silent. Miley finally went into the tunnels.

"Good luck," he whispered as she left, turning around and leaving.

Miley finally came to the tunnels.

"You see anything yet?"

She turned around in shock. "You scared me, Oliver! What are you doing here?"

"Being stupid," Oliver said, coming up so that he was standing next to her, "I followed you. I couldn't just wait there in the library and do nothing. Jesse's my friend and I am going to save him whether you like it or not. Besides, it's this or chem. class."

Miley finally gave in, nodded, and led him down some stairs.

"So, sunlight, garlic, stake to the heart," said Oliver, "Did I miss anything?"

"That'll do it," said Miley, "Add in some holy water, crosses, beheading, and fire."

"Good, 'cause I actually didn't think about what I was doing ahead of time and forgot to pick up those things," said Oliver, getting out a flashlight, "All I have is this." He turned it on.

"Turn that off!" Miley hissed. He quickly did. "Take this." She gave him a cross, which he quickly took.

"So, you've done some beheading in your time?"

Miley laughed slightly. "Yeah. There was this guy that played left tackle for the junior varsity…or at least he did before he started to drink blood. Anyway, he got me cornered and all I had was a knife and…yeah, you're not loving this story."

"Actually, I find it strangely comforting."

Miley smiled and came to the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly, she stopped smiling. "They're close."

"How can you tell?" asked Oliver.

"I just know."

Oliver turned on his flashlight and looked around, spotting Jesse on the ground. "Jesse!"

Jesse got up. "Oliver!"

"Are you OK?" Oliver asked.

"No, we have to get out of here!"

"It's OK, Miley's a…superhero."

Miley took the flashlight and saw Jesse's shackles. "Hold on…" She gave Oliver back the flashlight and broke the shackles. What she wasn't counting on was the loud noise that came from her actions. "Do you think they heard that?"

A bunch of Vampires started to surround them. "Yeah, I think they did," said Oliver.

"They knew you were coming," said Jesse, "They said I was the bait."

"Oh, sure, now you tell us!" Miley complained, starting to look for a way out of the tunnel. They rounded a corner and were met by some more Vampires. "Is there another way out?"

"I know," said Jesse, "They brought me through here! Come on!" He led them down another intersection and up some stairs, into an empty room.

"I don't think this is the way out, Jesse," Miley said, "What do we do now?"

"You die." Miley and Oliver looked and saw that Jesse was a Vampire.

"Oh no," Miley said.

"Oh, Jesse…man, I'm so sorry," Oliver said.

"Sorry?" Jesse said, "I feel good, strong…I know what the Master wants. You die, I feed."

Miley saw some more Vampires coming up. "Oliver, the cross!"

Oliver held up the wooden cross Miley had given him and Jesse quickly recoiled. He knocked Jesse into the hall with the other Vampires and went over to Miley and helped her close the door to the chamber, locking out the Vampires. "We have to get out of here!" Oliver said, closing the latch.

"There is no out of here!" Miley complained.

Oliver shined the light on the ceiling and saw a grate. "Up there!"

Miley took a barrel from the side of the room and put it up to the wall. She got up on it and jumped up, catching hold of the grate and opening it. She used one hand to hold onto the road above them and used her other hand to pull Oliver up. She pulled him up and got out of the grate. Just as she was about to pull him up, the door to the chamber opened and the Vampires swarmed around him feet. "Oliver!" She grabbed his hand and pulled him up. The Vampires were pulling him in the other direction, but she was able to wrestle them off of him, close the grate, and run off, taking Oliver with her.

* * *

In the library, Giles was looking through a bunch of books. He heard the door open. "Miley?" he asked, hopefully.

"It's just me," Lilly said, putting some papers onto the table, "She's not back yet?"

"No, I'm afraid not," Giles said, "Did you find anything?"

"I surfed through some old newspapers from '48 and found that there was rash of murders for several months. It was the same case every time, their throats cut open and all their blood drained. It's all coming together."

"I wish it weren't."

* * *

Down in the Master's lair, one of the Vampires was standing in front of the Master and Luke and Darla were waiting nearby. "She escaped? I should be drinking her blood right now and instead you're here telling me that she escaped? I'm tired of you failing me." He turned to Luke. "It's time." He took a sword and started to engrave a symbol in Luke's chest. "My blood is your blood. My soul is your soul."

"My body is your instrument," Luke said.

"On this most hallowed night, the Harvest shall begin. Luke is the vessel!"

* * *

Oliver and Miley came into the library.

"Did you find Jesse?" Lilly asked them, hopefully.

"Oh, yeah, we found him, but we were too late," said Oliver.

"He was dead?" Lilly asked, almost crying.

"Worse," Miley answered, "I'm sorry, Lilly. They were waiting for us." Oliver went over to the table. "At least the 2 of us are OK." Oliver violently kicked a chair and fell to the ground, whimpering. "Well, we were until he did that." She came up to Giles. "So, got anything to make this day any worse?"

"How about the end of the world?"

"Knew I could count on you."

"This town is a very mystical place. 60 years ago, almost right down to the day, a very old and powerful Vampire came ashore. Not just to feed, but to open the Hell-Mouth, a sort of portal between this reality and the next. The…Master hopes to open it."

"To bring the demons back, hence the end of the world," said Miley.

"But he blew it!" Lilly said, excitedly, "There was an earthquake. It swallowed half the town, including him."

"Odds are, he got himself stuck in the Hell-Mouth," Giles said.

"And this Harvest thing is going to bring him out," Oliver guessed.

"It comes once a century and tonight, the Master will draw power from one his minions while he feeds, the Vessel." Giles went over to the whiteboard on the stair railing and drew a 3-pointed star. "He bears this symbol."

"So I dust anyone wearing that symbol, and _boom_. Apocalypse, _not_ now."

"Essentially, yes."

"So where are they going?" asked Miley.

"They're going to the Bronze," Oliver said, more of a statement than a suggestion.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Lilly.

"Come on, all those tasty, young morsels?" Oliver said, "Besides, that's where Jesse's gonna be, trust me."

"Alright," said Miley, "you guys go on without me and hold down the fort until sundown. I need to make a stop on the way there."

"What for?" asked Giles.

"Supplies."

* * *

Miley took a trunk out from under her bed. She undid the latch and slowly opened it. Inside was a bunch of stakes, some garlic, a few crosses, and a couple bottles of holy water. She heard a knock at the door and quickly closed her box and pushed it back under her bed. "Come in!" Jackson came in. "Since when do you knock?"

"Since I know it makes you think I'm Dad coming in to bust you with the Slaying stuff," Jackson answered, "Miles, you're gonna have to tell him sometime."

"I choose later," Miley said, getting her trunk back out.

"He's all upset that he didn't hear you come in last night. We got a call from the principal that says you missed some classes today. He doesn't want you leaving the house tonight."

"Well, cover for me," Miley said, stuffing some crosses and garlic in her jacket and putting a bottle of holy water in her jeans pocket, "Some seriously dangerous alpha Vamp is rising tonight and I need to stop him."

"Or what? It's the end of the world?"

"Good guess."

Jackson opened the door and peered down the hall to make sure their dad wasn't nearby. He closed the door and turned back to his sister. "OK, I will tell dad that you are spending the night studying at a friend's house and that she will make sure you do not miss any classes tomorrow, if you give me 50 bucks and do my math homework for me."

"Fine, it's a deal," said Miley, "Tell him I'm staying with Lilly Truscott and that I will not, I repeat, _not_ leave her house until school-time tomorrow and I will come straight home as soon as I am done with all of my school stuff."

"Done, see you tomorrow, Slayer," Jackson said, leaving the room and going to the living to tell their Dad what had happened.

Miley took out 2 of her stakes and put each one up a different sleeve in her jacket. She then grabbed her bag, went out to the balcony, closed her window and jumped into the sand below, running off to the Bronze to meet up with her friends and stop the Harvest.

* * *

Inside the Bronze, Amber and Ashley were partying with some of the other students. Suddenly, the music stopped. They looked and saw Luke on the stage.

"Ladies and gentlemen, no cause for alarm," Luke said, "Actually, there is cause for alarm it just won't do any good." Another Vampire came up with the first victim. "This is a glorious night! It's also the last any of you will ever see!" Luke grabbed the boy by the neck. "Watch me. Fear is like an elixir. A lot like blood." He bit deep into the boy's neck, draining all his blood. Down in the cave, the Master could feel his energy increasing. Luke dropped the dead boy on the floor. "Next!"

* * *

Miley and the gang came up to the door that led into the Bronze. It was locked. "We're too late!"

"Can't you break it down?" asked Oliver.

Miley shook her head. "No. Uh…try the back entrance, I'll find my own way in. But, before you go…" Miley handed her bag to Lilly. "Clear the entrance. Get as many people out as you can.

"See you inside," Lilly said as she, Oliver, and Giles headed to the back entrance. She tried to open the door. "It's locked, too!"

"We've got to get in there before Jesse does something stupider than usual!" Oliver said.

"Listen to me!" Giles said, "Jesse is dead! When you see him, you're not looking at your friend, you're looking at the thing that killed him."

Down in the cave, the Master began to grow stronger and stronger. "Give me more!"

Jesse was fighting with Darla as to who got to feed on Amber. "This one is mine!"

"They're all for the Master!" Darla said, taking Amber and pushing her over to the stage.

"None for me?" Jesse asked, disappointed.

Miley broke a window on the upper level and went over to see what was going on down below. She saw Luke on the stage, feeding. "The Vessel…"

"Tonight is his ascension!" Luke said, "Tonight we will make history…end! Yours is a glorious sacrifice! What? No volunteers?"

Darla pushed Amber onto the stage. "Here's a pretty one!"

Luke took Amber, who screamed when she saw him. Luke started to bite her, but Miley came onto the stage and kicked him before he could get close enough.

"Sorry, am I interrupting something?" Miley asked, "Didn't mean to crash the party."

"You!" Luke said.

"Oh, you didn't think I'd miss this, do you?" Miley took off her jacket. "You want blood?"

"I want yours!" Luke tossed Amber off the stage. "Only yours!"

"Works for me, Vessel Boy." Miley kicked him. He knocked her to the side of the stage. She groaned getting up. "I broke a nail. Now, it's personal!"

While Miley and Luke were fighting, Giles, Lilly, and Oliver came in and started leading people out the back.

Amber was running to them, but Jesse grabbed her. She started struggling to get out. "Hold still! You're not making this very easy."

Oliver came up, holding a stake. "Jesse! Don't make me do it…"

Luke knocked Miley to the floor. "I always wanted to kill a Slayer."

"Jesse," Oliver said, "I know there's still part of you in there.

Jesse let go of Amber, who found Ashley and ran out. "OK, let's deal with this. Jesse was an excruciating loser. I'm a new man!"

Luke grabbed Miley and held her arms behind her back. "Master, taste of this and be free!" Miley kicked him in the face (who knew she was so flexible?) and started to fight him again.

Giles and Lilly were still leading people out the back door.

"We're going to have to open the front, too," said Giles, starting to head in that direction. Before he could get there, Darla jumped onto him from behind and pinned him to the ground.

"Giles!" Lilly took a jar of holy water from Miley's bag and opened it. "Get away from him!" She poured the water in Darla's face. It burned her and she ran running from the club, screaming.

Oliver finally got the stake pointed at Jesse's heart.

"Well, go ahead, do it!" Jesse commanded, "Put me out of my 'misery'!" One of the kids that was trying to escape, bumped into him, knocking him onto the stake.

Oliver shrugged as Jesse turned to dust. "That'll work."

Miley got the microphone stand from the stage.

Luke laughed. "You forgot. Metal can't hurt me."

"Something you forgot about?" Miley said, "Sunrise." She launched the microphone stand over his head and smashed a window about 10 feet above the stage. Luke started to cry out and then realized that he wasn't bursting into flames. He looked and saw that the light coming through the window was a street lamp. Miley stabbed his heart with her stake from behind. "It's in about 9 hours, moron." She took her stake out and watched him fall to the ground, turning to dust just before making contact with the floor. The Master could feel Luke's death and knew that the Harvest had failed. The Vampires saw what had happened and ran from her presence in fear.

Outside, Angel was watching the whole thing. "She did it. Wow."

Giles, Lilly, Oliver, and Miley met by the exit.

"Did we win?" asked Lilly, "Is it over?"

"We averted an apocalypse," said Miley, "I give us points for that."

"Well, one thing's for sure," said Oliver, "Nothing's ever gonna be the same."

* * *

The next day at school, everyone was coming up with different ideas as to what had happened the night before. The most popular excuse was that the Vampires had been "rival gangs."

"What were you expecting?" Miley asked Oliver.

"I thought we'd at least have an assembly or something," Oliver said.

"People do have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't," Giles said. Miley, Lilly, and Oliver all gave him looks. "Was that a bit British?"

"Welcome to the New World," said Miley. She groaned. "But, believe me, I've seen stuff like this happen before."

"Well, I'll never forget it," said Lilly, "None of it. It was the best night of my life."

"Good, then you'll be prepared next time," said Giles.

"Next time?" Lilly asked, scared.

"T-There's gonna be a next time?" Oliver asked.

"Why is there a next time?" asked Miley.

"We did prevent the Master from rising, but he will keep trying," Giles said, "We must be ready for it."

"Oh, great, more Vampires," Lilly complained.

"Not just Vampires," said Giles, "The next threat we face may be something quite different. We're at the center of a mystical convergence here. We, in fact, may stand between the earth and its total destruction."

"Well," said Miley, "let's look on the bright side. Maybe we can still get kicked out of school!"

"Now, that's a plan," said Oliver, as the 3 kids headed off for class, leaving Giles standing alone in the hall, "Because, you know, a lot of schools aren't on Hell-Mouths."

"Oh, maybe we can blow something up," suggested Lilly, "They're really strict about that."

"I was thinking of something more subtle," said Miley, "You know, like, excessive _not_ studying."

"The earth is doomed!" Giles said.

**END EPISODE**


	3. Witch

Chapter 3: Witch

Giles was in the library with Miley, pacing. "This is madness!" he ranted, upset, "What can you be thinking? You are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you! I expect a certain amount of responsibility and, instead, you choose to enslave yourself to this…cult?"

Miley was in a blue and gold cheerleading outfit. Her hair was in pigtails and her pom-poms were covering her hands. "You don't like the color?" She looked down at her sweater, skirt, and sneakers. "Come to think of it, it's not a very good combo."

"Do you ignore everything I say? Is that a rule?"

"No, I think that's your thing." She skipped over to him. "I told you last week that I'd be trying out for the cheerleading squad." She waved her pom-poms around. He just gave her a look. "OK, here's the deal. An extra-curricular looks good on a college application and is kind of mandatory. So, technically speaking, I have no choice but to try out."

"You have a sacred birthright, Miley," Giles said, "You were chosen to destroy Vampires, not to…wave pom-poms at people. As your Watcher, I forbid it."

"And you're going to be stopping me how?"

"Well, I…can, uh…by appealing to your common sense if such a creature exists."

Miley groaned. "I will still have time to 'fight the forces of evil' and 'vanquish the eternal darkness' I just want to have a normal life for like…10 minutes."

That probably wasn't going to happen. In the attic of a house a few blocks away, someone was brewing up some serious trouble (literally, there was a potion in a cauldron). A doll was a shelf. The person came along and took it.

* * *

Miley and her 2 friends, Oliver and Lilly, were in the gym while the girls started practicing for the cheerleader tryouts.

"So Giles didn't approve, huh?" asked Lilly.

"Are you kidding?" Miley said, "He had a cow. If my brother had been there, he would have had the whole barn!"

"Is Jackson really that bad?" Oliver asked.

"You don't know the half of it," said Miley, "Luckily, he does know I'm the Slayer, so he covers for me with Dad if something goes wrong. And as for Giles, he hasn't seen a Vampire in over a week. I haven't even seen one in 3 days. I'd tell him to get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old."

"Well, we're right behind you," said Lilly, "And remind me why we came to tryouts with you?"

"As support," Miley said, "Of course, Oliver probably came to stare at all the cute girls in the short skirts."

Oliver busy staring at a girl in the center of the gym.

"OLIVER!" Lilly shouted.

Oliver jumped. "WHAT? Sorry. Oh, and Miley, here's something for, uh…good luck." Oliver got out a silver ID bracelet and put it around her wrist.

"Wow, thanks, Oliver," Miley said. She looked at the inscription. "'Yours always.'"

"Uh, they all said that," said Oliver. Lilly gave him a look, but he didn't see.

Amber and Ashley came over. Amber groaned when she saw the girl in the center of the gym. "Who does she think she is, a Laker girl?"

"Oh, I hear she turned them down," said Lilly.

The coach, Joy, came up. "OK, listen up, people! We're starting tryouts now. Let's begin with…Ember Grove. If you are not auditioning, move off the floor!"

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver sat down in the stands. Lilly caught sight of a friend of hers. "Amy, hi!"

"Hi, Lilly!" Amy said, coming over and sitting down next to her.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader," said Lilly, "And, wow, you lost a lot of weight."

"Had to," Amy said, shrugging.

"Oh, have you met Miley?" Lilly said, introducing them.

"Hi," Amy said.

"Hi," said Miley.

Ember, the girl who Amber and Oliver had been watching, started her routine. She was amazing.

"I hear she trained with Benson," Amy said, "He's one of the top cheerleading coaches that money can buy."

"They have cheerleading coaches?" Miley asked.

"Yeah, don't you?" Amy asked, "I train with my mom. 3 hours in the morning and 3 at night."

"Talk about dedication," said Lilly.

Amber and Ashley were still watching Ember's routine. They finally couldn't stand it anymore and turned their back on her. They were the only ones who didn't see her hands start to smoke.

"What in the--?" Miley was shocked.

"That girl's on fire!" Lilly said.

"Enough with the hyperbole!" Amber complained.

Ember's hands caught fire and she dropped her pom-poms on the floor, screaming.

Miley took down a banner from the wall and used it to bat out the flames. "It's OK. You're gonna be OK. Oh my possum, what happened?"

"You said 'possum'," Lilly said. Miley gave her a look.

* * *

Later in the library, Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were sitting at the table and Giles was in the cage, looking through some books.

"I have been slaying Vampires for over a year now," said Miley, "I've seen some creepy things, but nobody's hands ever got toasted before!"

Giles came out of the cage. "Imagine not. I don't think this is a Vampire problem."

"But it is a supernatural thing, right?" Lilly asked.

"I'd say so," Giles said, "Spontaneous human combustion is quite rare, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases of it for hundreds of years. Usually, all that's left is a pile of ashes."

"Well, that's all that would've been left if it weren't for Miley," Lilly said.

"So we have no idea what caused this," Oliver said, "That's comforting."

"But that's the thrill of living on the Hell-Mouth," said Giles, sitting down at the table, "There's veritable cornucopia of fiends and demons to engage." They all gave him a look. "Well, forgive me for seeing the glass as half full."

"Are there any common denominators in cases of…spontaneous combustion?" asked Miley.

"Rage," Giles answered, "The person who combusted is usually angry or upset."

"Or maybe Ember was a power to make herself light up in flames," suggested Oliver, "Like the human torch, expect…it hurts." Miley and Lilly gave him looks.

Miley rolled her eyes. "I need to get details on Ember. I need to know if this has happened before." She got up and started to leave.

"Which means hacking illegally into the school system," Lilly said, "Finally, something I can do!"

"And I can ask around about her," said Oliver.

"I don't want you guys getting involved," said Miley.

"What're you talking about?" asked Oliver, "We're a team."

"Yeah," said Lilly, "You're the Slayer and we're, like, the Slayerettes."

"I just don't like putting you guys in danger," said Miley.

Oliver laughed. "I laugh in the face of danger…then I hide until it goes away."

Miley groaned and gave in. "OK, OK, just stay off the battlefield until we know more about what's going on. What if Ember's not the one causing the problem?"

"Well, then we've have to determine who or what did it and why," Giles said.

* * *

Miley came home and saw her dad and brother in the kitchen.

"Hey, Mile," her dad said, "How was school?"

"'Kay," said Miley, "We had tryouts today."

"Oh, great," said her dad, "How'd it go?"

"I didn't actually get to try out," said Miley, "There was a…accident."

"Well, just keep trying, get back on the horse, you'll get there," her dad said.

"I don't really think that applies to…Dad?" Miley's dad looked at her. "What was I trying out for?"

"Uh…some activity?" Miley gave him a look. "No idea."

"Cheerleading."

"Oh, glad you're taking that up again. Should keep you out of trouble."

"Uh, I'm in trouble."

"Well, I mean…you, uh, quit just before the trouble started so, uh…"

"Nice save, Dad," Jackson commented.

* * *

Tryouts restarted the next day. All the auditioning girls were in a line.

"OK," said Joy, "despite what happened yesterday, we still have to pick new cheerleaders. If you've made the team, your names will be posted in the quad after lunch."

Amy clutched her pom-poms tightly. "Why do my hands have to sweat when I get nervous?"

"Don't worry," said Miley, "You'll do fine."

"5, 6, 7, 8!" Joy blew her whistle.

The routine started. Amy was the first to attempt a cartwheel…and blew it by falling on top of Amber and knocking them both to the ground.

"You saw that, right?" Amber asked, nervously, "That wasn't me! You did see that, right?" She looked back at Amy and then back again. "Right?"

* * *

After tryouts, Amy was admiring the trophies. Miley came up to her. "That's my mom," Amy said.

"Really?" Miley said, looking at the trophy and picture, "'Catherine Madison.' Wow."

"I know," said Amy, "Her nickname was 'Catherine the Great'. She took that team and made them tri-county champions. No one ever did that before and no one's done it since. She and my dad were Homecoming King and Queen and they got married right after graduation."

"That's so romantic!" Miley said.

"He was a big loser, never made any money, and ran off with another girl when I was 12."

"That part, less romantic. My mom died a few years ago. I'm living with my dad and my brother."

"That kind of sad," said Amy, "Well, my dad left my mom with nothing. She put herself in cosmetology school and bought me everything I ever wanted. And she never once gained a single pound."

"Well, that's really great, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you _have_ to be a cheerleader, too."

"She was the best," said Amy, "And I just can't get my body to move like hers. I choked in there! Horribly!"

"It wasn't _that_ bad." She thought about what she'd just said. "That came out wrong."

"I have to go change." Amy left.

"Amy, wait!"

Lilly came up. "What's her problem?"

"It's her mom. She was a big cheer queen when she was our age."

"I've heard about her mom. If she gained an ounce, she would padlock the fridge and eat nothing but broth. But Amy's nice. We used to hang in Junior High. When her mom was in a broth kick, we would lock ourselves up in my house and stuff ourselves with brownies."

Miley laughed and smiled. "So, any word on Ember?"

"Nothing thrilling. She's just an average student. She did get detention once, but it was for smoking. Regular smoking, like…with a cigarette. It's all normal."

"So, I guess we just wait and see what happens. Maybe nothing will."

* * *

Amy was in the locker room. She closed her locker and started to go, but Amber was at the end of row and stopped her.

"I have a dream," said Amber, "A dream where I am on the cheerleading squad, adored by every varsity male as far as the eye can see! We have to achieve our dreams, Amy. Otherwise, we…whither and die!"

"Look, Amber, I'm sorry about--"

"If your little stunt pulls me out of the run for the squad, you're going to be more than sorry." She stared her down, threateningly. She smiled. "Have a nice day!" She skipped out, leaving Amy in pure shock.

* * *

Lilly and Oliver were in the hall.

"I told Miley about Ember," Lilly said.

"Cool!" Oliver said, "Was she wearing the bracelet? It's almost like we're going out."

"Yeah, except, without all the hugging and kissing and her knowing about it."

"What can I say? I'm a figure of fun. I should probably ask her out, shouldn't I?"

"You won't know until you try," Lilly said in a singsong voice.

"Thanks. You know, you're like my guy that knows about girl stuff."

Lilly groaned. "Great. Now I'm a guy!"

"Sorry." Oliver then took notice of the crowd of girls at the end of the hall. "Oh, look. They're posting the list!" He raced to the end of the hall and Lilly followed just after him.

Amy and Miley were waiting. A girl ran by them. She was crying because her name wasn't on the list.

"I can't take this," said Amy.

"You're in luck," said Amber, coming out of the crowd next to her.

"I made the team?" Amy asked, hopefully.

Amber smirked. "I did." She strutted away, leaving Amy standing there, unhappy.

Oliver came up. "Cover me. I'm going in." He elbowed his way through the crowd. "Pardon me! Excuse me! Out of the way! Coming through!" He studied the list, looking for their names. The girls in the crowd pushed him back and he collided with Lilly, almost knocking them both over. "Sorry. One of those girls hit me really hard!" He turned to Miley and Amy. "OK, Miley, not only did you make the team, but you're the first alternate! And Amy's the third!" Miley stopped smiling and Amy looked at the floor, upset. "And what better way to celebrate than--"

"Oliver!" Lilly said as Amy started leave, "Alternates don't make the team! They fill in if someone who did get on the team can't make it!"

"Amy, wait!" Miley called after Amy, going after her.

Oliver sighed. "Behold, Oliver Oken, King of the Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow down before me."

Miley caught up with Amy. "At least it's over. Maybe we can go do a brownie pig-out. My house, after school?"

"Miley, this would never have happened to my mother, ever! I can't do this anymore." She ran off. This time, Miley didn't follow her.

* * *

In the attic, the brew in the cauldron continued to bubble and boil. The person came along and took another doll off the shelf. "Give me power. Give me the dark." They stirred the potion. "I call on you, the laughing gods. Let your blackness crawl beneath my skin." They took a scrunchie from their pocket and wrapped it around the doll. "Accept the sacrifice…of Amber." They dropped the doll in the cauldron. "Feed on her."

* * *

Miley came back into her house. Her dad was on the couch and Jackson was in the kitchen, eating.

"Hey, Mile!" her dad said, "Look, what I found." He held up a book. "My old high school yearbook." He opened it. "There I am."

"Dad, seriously? I didn't make the cheerleading team, could you please not make my day any worse?"

Her dad closed the book and dropped it on the couch. "Well, I was thinking that since the cheerleading didn't work out, you could try yearbook committee." Jackson started laughing. "Hey, I was on the yearbook staff in high school. I got to be on every page. It made me look _way_ more popular than I already was."

"Dad, have you seen the guys that work the yearbook?" asked Miley, "Nerds pick on them!" She sighed. "I've gotta go. Ton of homework." She went to her room.

Jackson walked over to Mr. Stewart. "The yearbook. Great catch there, Dad. And since she's the one that got kicked out of school, does that mean I'm your favorite kid now?"

* * *

The next day at school, Oliver and Lilly were in the hall when Amber walked by.

"Amber!" Oliver called after her, "You haven't been mean to us all day! Is it something we've done?" He groaned. "I have invisible man syndrome. Which is a blessing in Amber's case, but a curse in Miley's."

"You're not invisible to Miley," Lilly said.

"You're right, it's worse! I'm just a piece of scenery. Maybe I should just take the stand and ask her out now."

"Well, she is right over there," said Lilly, pointing to Miley, who was just coming out of a classroom and noticing Amber playing with the lockers.

"Hey, Miley," said Oliver, "I was wondering--"

"Is that even Amber's locker?" Miley asked, seeing Amber trying to turn the lock on a locker down the hall.

"Uh, actually, I wanted to talk about--"

"I'll be right back." Miley followed Amber. Amber walked off campus and into the streets. Miley noticed a bus coming at her and ran at her, pushing her out of the way just in time to avoid contact. "Are you OK?"

"No, I can't see anything," Amber said.

"Well, don't worry about--" Miley turned and saw why Amber couldn't see anything. Her eyes had no irises or pupils, they were entirely white.

* * *

"Witchcraft!" Giles figured out later in the library, "Blinding your enemies is a classic Witch prank."

"Great," said Oliver, "First Vampires, and now Witches. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot!"

"But who would want to harm Amber?" asked Giles.

"Uh, anyone who's ever met her?" Lilly said.

"Setting Ember's hands on fire?" asked Miley, "They're both cheerleaders."

"Someone doesn't like cheerleading?" Giles asked, confused.

"Or likes it too much," said Miley.

"Amy!" said Lilly.

"Amy," Miley said, "She's desperate to get on the team. I got a feeling that she's trying to make her mom's dream come true."

"Then we have to stop her," said Oliver, "We should grab her and--"

"First, we've gotta prove that she's the Witch," said Miley.

"There's a simple potion in here," said Giles, "All we need is some mercury and nitric acid and a little bit of her hair. 'Heat ingredients and apply to Witch. If a spell has been cast in the last 48 hours, the potion will turn blue on contact.'"

Miley scoffed. "We can totally do that."

"And you'll need some eye of newt."

* * *

The 3 of them were in chemistry class.

"OK, kids," said the teacher, "For those of you who are in track one, you may begin your dissections now." Oliver got out some tweezers and started to attempt to take out the frog's eye. "For those of you in track 2, take your hydrochloric acid and ammonium hydroxide and carefully pour them into your beakers."

Oliver gave in and put down the frog and the tweezers. Even if it was already dead, it was still disgusting! "I can't."

Lilly took it and did it herself. She carefully took the eye out and put it in with the rest of their ingredients. "Eye of newt. How's Miley coming with the hairs?"

Miley was near the front of the class. She went over to Amy's table, which just so happened to be right next to hers. "Uh, Amy? Could you help me? Which one is the hydrochloric acid and which one's the ammonium hydroxide?"

"Well," Amy said, "the bottle that says 'hydrochloric acid' is usually the hydrochloric acid."

"Right, check the labels," Miley said, fake laughing. She dropped her pencil on the floor. "Oops." She bent down, picked up the pencil, and took a hairbrush out of Amy's backpack, taking some of the hairs off of it. She got back up and went over to Lilly and Oliver, dropping the hairs in with the rest of the mixture. "All done and set to go." She took the bottle. "Now all I have to do is spill it on her and make it look natural." She slowly walked over to Amy and carefully poured the contents of the bottle onto her arm. The mixture turned blue, but Amy didn't even notice. She was looking over at a girl that was sitting on the next table over. Miley looked and saw that the girl she was staring at had no mouth.

* * *

Oliver, Miley, and Lilly met in the hall when class was over.

"Amy was as freaked out as the rest of us," said Lilly, "It couldn't have been her."

"But the test was positive," said Miley, "I think she just doesn't realize what she's doing."

"So should we talk to her?" Oliver suggested, questionably.

"Maybe we should talk to her mother," said Miley, "I wonder if _she_ knows what she's created."

* * *

Amy came into her house. Her mother was on a couch in the living room. "Another productive day in front of the TV? No matter, I have a history report due tomorrow. Write it." She dropped her bag on the floor and groaned. "I should be on that team by now. Instead, miss Miley and her friends are going around taking bits of my hair." She took a silver ID bracelet out of her pocket. It was the one Oliver had given to Miley. "I'll be upstairs." She left the room and went up to the attic.

* * *

The next morning, Miley was in bed. Her alarm went off. She put her hand on the desk and searched around for the "snooze" button. When she finally found the clock, her Slayer strength kicked in and she knocked the clock off the table, almost breaking it. "Oops." She got dressed into her cheerleader outfit and went down to the kitchen to meet her dad and brother. " _I know where I stand, I know who I am, I would never run away… _Hey, guys."

"Uh, hey, Miley," said her dad, "You sure are in a good mood."

"Yeah, I'm perfectly—oh, hey, juice!" Miley took a glass of orange juice from the counter and drank it.

"And, about what happened yesterday…" her dad started.

"Don't worry about it," said Miley, "What's past is past. Oh, hey, juice!" She took Jackson's glass of orange juice.

"Hey, that's mine!" Jackson complained.

"Yeah, well, too bad," Miley said, drinking it and putting the half-empty glass back on the counter. "And, Dad, it's not like you were wrong, I mean, I did get kicked out of school. You don't get it, but you probably don't want to. I mean, there are just some things about being a Vampire Slayer that--"

"I'm sorry, what'd you say?" asked her dad.

Jackson started fake laughing. "She's kidding. She's totally kidding. Right, Miley?" He turned to her looking for support.

"Sure, I just gotta go to school," Miley said, grabbing her bag and jacket, "_ …When life gets bad it's everything I see, every part of me, gonna get what I deserve… _" She left, humming the rest of the song on her way to school.

* * *

The cheerleaders were practicing. Miley was doing the routine perfectly well until she stomped on Joy's foot.

"Ow!" Joy complained, "Get it together, Miley. We have a game in a few hours!"

Lilly and Oliver came in just in time to see Miley twirl into a banner, colliding with Joy and crashing them both into the wall. Lilly and Oliver went over and helped her stand up.

"Oh, you are _so_ out of here!" Joy said, "Who's the next alternate?" Amy was standing nearby and came over. "Oh. Well, congratulations, Amy, looks like you're on the squad."

"No!" Miley objected quickly, "You don't want her. She a W--"

Lilly stopped her. "She had meatloaf for lunch and it hasn't quite settled right." She and Oliver dragged Miley out of the gym and into the hall.

"I just got kicked off the team, didn't I?" asked Miley.

"I don't think it was your fault," said Oliver.

"Of course, you don't," said Miley, "'Cause you're my friend! You're my Oliver-shaped friend! And you know why I love you so much, Ollie?"

"Uh, maybe we should get her to a--" Lilly suggested.

"No, Lilly, let's let her speak," Oliver said.

"Because you are not like other boys at all," said Miley, "You are totally and completely one of the girls!" She laughed and turned to Lilly. "I'm that comfortable with him."

"OK, now we need to get her to a doctor," said Oliver.

"I mean, if any other guy gave me a bracelet, they would probably wanna date me," said Miley, "But you…oh, I don't feel so good." She fainted.

"Miley!" Lilly got down on the floor to see how she was doing.

* * *

Miley was on a couch in the library with a wet cloth on her head.

"We need to get her to a hospital," Lilly said.

"They can't do anything for her," Giles argued, "This is a bloodstone vengeance spell. It hits you hard and eradicates your immune system."

"So, Amy's trying to get even with Miley?" Oliver asked.

"She's knows I know she's the Witch," said Miley, weakly, "I'm a threat to her."

"The others she just wants out of the running on the cheer squad," said Giles, "Miley she wants to…kill."

Lilly and Oliver were shocked. "How much time do we have?" Lilly asked, fearfully.

"A couple hours," said Giles, "3 at the most. But we can reverse the spell. In fact, we can reverse all the spells. We just need to find Amy's book. The only other way is to cut Amy's head off."

"It's not Amy's fault," said Miley, "She only became a Witch to survive her mother." She sat up slightly. "Giles, where could she be casting these spells?"

"She'd need a sacred place and a cauldron…"

"Her house," Miley suggested, "Help me up." Lilly and Oliver came over and helped her stand up. "We'll just go to her house and get her book."

"We'll go with you," said Lilly.

"No," Giles quickly objected, taking Miley in his arms, "You stay here and make sure Amy doesn't get into any more trouble. We'll go talk to her mother and find her book. And keep her away from the science lab. We'll need it to cast the counter-spells." He took Miley out of the library and headed to Amy's house.

* * *

Giles knocked on the door to Amy's house and Amy's mother came and answered it to find him on the porch, helping Miley stand up. "Mrs. Madison, we need to talk. It's about your daughter."

"I'm not allow…" Catherine caught herself. "I'm sorry, you have to come back later. She tried to close the door, but Giles held it open.

Giles came in. "Are you alright, Miley?" He turned around and saw the couch in the living room and set her down on it. "Mrs. Madison, your daughter is meddling with something very dangerous."

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Catherine.

"Oh, I think you know only too well," said Giles.

"You have to go," said Catherine, "She's gonna be home soon."

Miley then knew something was wrong. She looked at the coffee table and saw a platter of half-eaten brownies.

"Look, your daughter has access to some very powerful magics and somehow your obsession with cheerleading made her--"

"I don't care about cheerleading!" Catherine interrupted, "It's not my fault that she--"

"Are you Amy?" Miley asked. She sat up straight when she heard no reply. "She switched your bodies, didn't she?"

Catherine looked at the floor in defeat. "She told me I was wasting my youth…so she took it." She sat on a chair next to the couch and Giles sat on the couch next to Miley. "I didn't know she was a Witch. When Dad was here, they would fight and yell and he…he would call her a Witch. I thought he meant…When he left, I wanted to go with him, but Mom wouldn't even let me call. She would lock herself upstairs for days at a time and kept yelling at me, saying I didn't what it's like to be her. I guess she showed me, huh? A few months ago, I woke up in her bed. I didn't know where I was…then I looked in the mirror."

"Wait, she locked herself upstairs?" asked Giles. Catherine nodded. "Where, exactly?" Catherine led Giles up to the attic. He broke the door down and went inside, looking around for the book or something that would help.

"Don't!" Catherine objected, "If she finds out I've been here, she'll kill me!"

Giles found 2 dolls that were strapped together. It was undoubtedly for the body-switching spell. "I believe we can reverse your mother's spell. All of them, in fact."

"Really? Oh, thank you."

"Just collect the dolls and find her spell book." They did and went down to check on Miley.

"Did we find it?" asked Miley.

"We found it," Giles said, holding up the book. He helped Miley stand up. "Now we just have to go back to the school and reverse all her spells.

* * *

While the game started and Lilly and Oliver continued to keep a close watch on Amy, Giles and Catherine busted into the science lab and laid Miley down on a table.

"How is she?" asked Catherine.

"We only have a few minutes left," said Giles. He got everything set up and started the spell. "The center is dark. Centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes. Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears. Hear me!"

At that moment, Catherine saw through Amy's eyes and Amy saw through Catherine's. "Oh, it's working!" Catherine said in excitement.

"Unlock the gate," said Giles, "Let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear. Show me…"

Back in the gym, Amy fell on top of Joy.

"What's your problem?" Joy complained.

Amy shot her a look and got up, running out of the gym. She headed to the science room, but Lilly stopped her in the hall. "Get out of my way, Lilly."

"Wait! I need to talk to you. I can help you!"

"Help me? With what?"

"You know," said Lilly, distracting her so that she wouldn't notice Oliver sneaking up behind her, "with all your witchcraft. I have a really good cauldron. Do you actually ride a broom?"

Amy turned around rapidly and held her hand at Oliver, who started choking as she slowly closed her hand into a fist. Oliver dropped to the ground.

"Oliver!" Lilly went over to help him, giving Amy passage to the science room, unintentionally.

"Corsheth and Gilail!" Giles continued, "The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!"

Amy continued down the hall. She took a fire axe out of a glass case on the wall and burst into the science room. Just as she was about to go after Miley, the spells all reversed with a flash of glowing light. Miley felt her energy coming back and Amy felt herself returning to her own body. They both got up and looked at each other.

"Miley?" Amy asked.

"Amy?" Miley said.

Catherine then lunged at her from the side and knocked her to the ground. Giles was about to go help, but she simply had to look at him to lunge a table into him. She got up from the floor, took the axe, and glared at Amy. "You little brat. I gave you life. I gave up my life so that you could drag your worthless carcass around and call it living?" She plunged the axe into a lab table. "I don't think so."

Miley got up behind her. "Guess what?" Catherine turned to face her. "I feel better!" She punched her in the face.

Catherine knocked her into the wall. "I shall look upon my enemy." Miley quickly searched around for something to help and saw a mirror on the ceiling, being held up by a pole. She turned back to see that Catherine's eyes had become pitch black. "I shall look upon my enemy and the darkness shall have her soul!" Miley got ready to knock the pole out of the way so that mirror would fall down and block the spell. "Corsheth, take her!" Catherine launched the spell, but Miley knocked the pole out of the way and the mirror blocked it. Catherine screamed as the spell wrapped around her and she vanished.

Giles got up from the floor. "Well, that was, um…interesting." Miley helped him up from the floor. "So all the spells were reversed."

"And you saved my life," said Miley, hugging him, "Thank you."

Oliver came rushing in and grabbed Amy. "I got her! Chop her head off!"

"Oliver, what are you doing?" Miley asked.

"Saving you?" Oliver scoffed, "She's evil!"

"Not really," said Amy, "I was my mom."

Oliver looked at her and saw that she was making no attempt to fight back. "Oh." He let go.

Lilly rushed in. "Is everything OK?"

"Yeah, I took care of it," said Oliver.

* * *

Miley was in her room, getting ready for bed.

Her dad walked in. "I don't get it. I've thought long and hard about it and I've come to one decision: I don't get it." He sat down next to her. "You're a 16-year-old girl. I think that there's some…biological imperative that I can't relate to you because I'm not 16."

"Or a girl," said Miley, dropping her bag on the floor, "So I'm inscrutable, huh? Do you ever wish you could be 16 again?"

Her dad laughed. "That's a frightening notion. Go through all that again. Whoo! No way, no how. Not even if it helped me understand you in the slightest!"

"It's OK," said Miley, hugging him tight, "I just have to get ready for bed. Love you!" She went off to the bathroom.

"I don't get it."

* * *

The next morning, Amy and Miley were walking down the halls.

"My dad is _so_ impossible," Amy said, "He doesn't let me go anywhere! He just wants to spend some 'quality time' with me. Plus, he's really guilty about leaving me with Mom."

"And you're loving it."

"Every single minute." The 2 of them came to the trophy case. "This Saturday, he wants to stay inside and make brownies. Well, actually, the brownies were my idea."

Amber came up to the 2 of them. "Hey, I'm so sorry you guys got bumped back to alternate. No, wait…no, I'm not!" She walked off.

"Well, I'll really miss the intellectual thrill of spell out words with my arms," said Amy, "Oh, Miley, I'm sorry. I forgot that you wanted to be on the squad!"

"Don't worry, I'm not big into it anymore," said Miley, glancing into the trophy case at the cheerleading trophy, "So, there's been no sign of her?"

"After that last spell?" Amy scoffed. "She said I'd never make trouble again, but, wherever she is, I don't think she'll have to worry about it. It's just great to have my body back." The 2 of them started to walk off to class. "I'm thinking of getting fat."

"You know, I hear that look's in for spring."

**END EPISODE**


	4. Teacher's Pet

Chapter 4: Teacher's Pet

_At the Bronze, Miley was fighting a Vampire. She punched him in the face, but he took no damage and simply smacked her into a pool table. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see Oliver._

"_Might if I cut in?" Oliver punched him in the face so hard that he hit the wall. He went over to one of the guys playing pool. "Can I borrow this?" He took the cue pole. "Thanks." He stabbed the Vampire in the heart with the pole and it turned to dust._

_Miley smiled and hugged him. "You saved me!"_

"_Yeah, I did. Are you alright?"_

"_Thanks to you." Miley stopped hugging him. She looked down and stopped smiling. "Your hand…" She held his hand and saw that it was covered in blood. "Will you still be able to--"_

"_Finish my guitar solo and kiss you like you've never been kissed before? You got it." Oliver jumped up onto the stage. He picked up the guitar and played it. Miley gazed at him, admiringly._

"_Oliver!" the crowd started chanting, "Oliver! Oliver!"_

"Oliver…OLIVER!"

Oliver snapped up in his chair. "What? What happened?"

"You fell asleep again," said Lilly, sitting next to him. They were in science class.

"Right, uh…sorry, Dr. Gregory," Oliver said.

"Where was I?" asked Dr. Gregory.

"We were continuing the study on insects and you started talking about ants," said Lilly.

"Right," said Dr. Gregory, "Ms. Stewart?" Miley nodded. "Can you name the 2 ways that ants communicate?"

"Ways that ants communicate…" Miley started, "Uh…" Lilly put her hand on Oliver as soon as she knew Dr. Gregory's attention was focused on Miley. "Touch…and…" Lilly started sniffing Oliver to indicate "smell", but Miley didn't get it. "B.O.?" Lilly gave her a look.

"I think you mean 'touch' and 'smell'," said Dr. Gregory, "Is there anything else Ms. Truscott must tell you?" The bell rang. "Alright, chapters 6-8 tomorrow." Miley was the last to come to the door. "Miley?" Miley stopped walking and turned to face him. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Miley nodded. "I take it you had a few problems at your old school?"

"Well, what teenager doesn't?"

"I know, cut classes, get in fights…burn down the gymnasium." Miley stared at him in surprise. "Principal Flutie showed my your permanent record."

"Well…that fire was…under extenuating circumstances."

"Can't wait to see what you're gonna do _here_. But, I suspect it's gonna be great."

"You mean 'great' in a bad way."

"You have a first-rate mind and you can think on your feet. Imagine what you could accomplish if you actually..."

"…did the homework."

"Exactly. I understand that you probably have a really good excuse for it. I also understand that, surprisingly enough, I don't care. I know you can excel in this class if you just try. And don't listen to the principal or anyone else's negative opinion about you."

Miley smiled. "Thanks. Bye." She left.

"Chapters 6-8!"

"I got it!"

Dr. Gregory sat down in his chair and started going through some of his files. All of a sudden, a giant green claw came up behind him and choked him and he couldn't scream. His glasses fell on the floor and, after a little bit longer, so did he.

* * *

At the Bronze that night, a couple guys from the class were talking.

"Totally scored with Cheryl's sister," said one guy.

"The one in college?" asked the other.

"No, the 10-year-old," he responded, sarcastically, "Yes, the one in college!"

Oliver came over. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Well, then, Oken, how many times did you score?" asked the first guy.

Oliver scoffed. "Are we talking today or the whole week?" He fake laughed and then caught sight of Miley and Lilly. "I'll be right back…Girls." He went over to Miley and Lilly. "Hey there, ladies."

"What's wrong with you, boy?" asked Miley.

"Quiet, those guys over there had the nerve to question my manliness!" Oliver snapped.

Lilly scoffed. "We'll show him!" She cuddled up in his arms.

Miley rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the entrance, where she caught sight of Angel. "I'll be right back." She went over to talk to him.

"Who's that guy?" Oliver asked when he saw her going over to Angel.

"I take it that's Angel," Lilly answered.

"That weird guy that warned her about all the Vampires?" Lilly nodded. "She didn't say anything about him being so attractive! How come _that_ never came up?"

Miley came over to Angel. "Well, well, well, look who's here."

"Hey," Angel responded.

"I'd say it's nice to see you, but we both know that's one big lie. You're just here to give me some cryptic warning about some exciting new catastrophe and then disappear, right?"

"You're cold."

"Oh, get over it."

"No, I mean, you look cold." He took off his jacket and gave it to her.

"Oh, sure!" Oliver complained across the room. "Give her your jacket! It's a balmy night! No one needs to be exchanging clothing around here!"

Miley wrapped his coat around herself. "It's a little big, but it's warm." She noticed that his arm was cut. "What happened to _you_?"

"I wasn't paying attention."

"To a guy with a big fork?"

"Don't let him corner you. Don't give him a moment's mercy. He'll rip your throat out."

"OK, I give you points for the strong visual. Ripping a throat out is…very…odd. And not cryptic in any way whatsoever."

"I have to go." He started to leave.

"Don't you want your jacket back?"

He shook his head. "Looks better on you."

Miley smiled as soon as he was gone. She liked him.

* * *

The next morning, Miley was talking to Giles on the way into the school building.

"That's all he said?" Giles asked, "'Fork Guy'?"

"Yup," Miley answered, "Cryptic Guy said 'Fork Guy'."

"I think there are too many guys in your life." They stopped walking when they reached a bench where Lilly was sitting and Miley sat down next to her. "I'll see what I can find." He sighed. "Every day here is the same."

"Bright, sunny, beautiful," Lilly said, "However can we escape this torment?"

Giles went off to the library and Oliver came up to the girls. "Good news, people," said Oliver, "Dr. Gregory isn't here today so those of us who didn't do the reading aren't as dumb as we look!" He closed Lilly's book for her and she sighed and stuffed it in her backpack.

"What happened?" asked Miley, "Is he sick?"

Oliver shrugged. "I heard he was missing."

"He's missing?" Miley asked, shocked, "That's not good news! Something might be wrong!"

"Plus, he was one of the only teachers who didn't think that Miley's a felon!" Lilly added.

"Sorry," Oliver snapped, "I'm sure he'll…uh…"

"What?" Lilly turned to see a nice looking young woman coming up. Miley turned to see the same thing.

"Hi, could you help me?" asked the young woman when she came up to the kids.

Oliver looked around to make sure she was talking to him. "Uh…sure, I can!"

"I'm looking for Science 109."

"Right, science…it's, um…I go there everyday!" Miley smirked at Lilly, who couldn't suppress a giggle at Oliver's confusion. "Uh, where is it?" Oliver asked, turning to the girls for help. Miley and Lilly just shrugged, mockingly.

The guy who had been mocking Oliver the night before came up behind them. "Hi, Blayne Mall. I'm going to the science lab right now. It's right next to the varsity field where I took All-City last year."

"Well, thank you, Blayne," said the young woman, following him to the classroom.

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver followed them. When they came into the classroom, Miley noticed Dr. Gregory's glasses on the floor.

"What's wrong, Miley?" Lilly asked while Miley bent down and picked up the glasses. She examined them to see that they were broken.

"Dr. Gregory must have dropped his glasses," Miley contemplated, "Why wouldn't he pick them back up." Lilly shrugged. Miley shrugged, too, and put them on the desk before going to her seat.

The young woman faced the class. "Hi, I'm Natalie French. I'm your new substitute teacher."

"Uh, Ms. French?" asked Miley, "Do you know when he's coming back?"

"No, I don't, uh…" Natalie checked the student roster. "Miley. They just call me and tell me where they want me. Anyway, his notes say that you were in the middle of insect life." She picked up a glass jar with a praying mantis inside. "The praying mantis is a fascinating creature. They're forced to live alone. Who can tell me why? Miley?"

Miley hesitated, trying to think of an answer. "Well…the words '_bug_-ugly' kind of spring to mind." Some of the students tried to suppress giggles at that comment.

"There is nothing ugly about these creatures," said Natalie, seeming almost offended, "The reason they are forced to live alone is because they're cannibals." Almost all of the students, especially, Miley, Lilly, and some of the other girls, seemed disgusted by that. "It's hardly their fault. It's the way nature designed them. There are over 1800 species worldwide and, in nearly all of them, the female is usually larger _and_ more aggressive than the male. The California Mantis lays her eggs and finds a mate…" She looked at Oliver. "…to fertilize them." She turned her attention back to the class. "Once he has played his part, she covers the eggs in a protective sac and attaches it to a leaf or twig, out of danger. If she's done her job correctly, she'll have several hundred offspring after a few months." She laid the jar back on the table. "You know, we should make some model egg sacs for the science fair. Who would like to help?" All the boys raised their hands. "Good!"

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver sat down in the cafeteria at lunch time.

Miley poked her food with her fork…to make sure it was food. "Hot dog surprise. Be still my heart."

"You know, call me old-fashioned," Lilly remarked, "but I'm kind of tired of surprises in my hot dogs."

"I wonder what she sees in me," said Oliver, twirling his fork in his hand, "It's probably my rugged good looks!" Miley and Lilly looked at each other. "Ms. French? You're probably a little too young to understand what an older woman could see in a younger man."

"Oh, I understand," said Miley, "The younger man is too dumb to wonder why the older woman can't find someone her own age. So young and so terribly innocent."

"Alright, Slay-girl," Oliver whispered, "Listen here. Those that can, do. Those that can't…laugh at those who can do."

Blayne came over. "Guess who's helping out Ms. French today? Me. And you? You're with her tomorrow. I came in first, Oken came in second. Guess that what they call natural selection." He left.

"Guess that's what they call rehearsal!" Oliver taunted, shouting at him as he left.

Miley got up and went over to get a drink, which she had forgotten the first time, bumping into Amber on the way there.

"Excuse you!" Amber said. She took out a piece of paper and gave it to the lunch lady. "Medically prescribed lunch. My doctor ships it daily, so I'm only here as long as I can hold my breath." Amber walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. When she looked inside, she screamed. Miley, Lilly, and Oliver all went over to see what went wrong. "His head! Where's his head?"

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver looked inside to see Dr. Gregory's dead body stuffed in the fridge, decapitated.

* * *

Later in the library, Lilly was trying to comfort Miley. "Who would want to hurt Dr. Gregory?"

"Well, he didn't have any enemies on the staff, as far as I'm aware," said Giles, "He was a civilized man. I liked him."

"So did I," said Miley, on the verge of tears.

"We're gonna find out who did this," said Lilly, "We're gonna find them, and we're gonna stop them!"

"Well, what do we know?" asked Giles.

"We know he was killed here on campus, probably yesterday," said Miley.

"How do you know that?" asked Giles.

"His glasses were on the floor of the science lab, and he didn't change his clothing," said Miley.

"OK, this is a question no one particularly wants to hear," said Oliver, "but where did they put his head?"

"Wow," said Lilly, "You were right about something for once, Oliver." Oliver smiled in gratitude. "I DIDN'T wanna hear that!" Oliver stopped smiling.

Miley stopped crying. "Angel!" She stood up. "He warned me that something was coming."

"Yes, I suppose he did," said Giles, "I wish I knew what he meant. I've been trying to gather information about the Master. There was a reference to a Vampire who displeased the Master. The Master cut off his hand."

"Cut off his hand and replaced it with a fork?" Miley asked.

"I don't know what he replaced it with," said Giles.

"So why come after a teacher?" asked Oliver.

"I'm not certain he did," said Giles, "There was an incident 2 nights ago involving a homeless man in Weatherly Park. He was practically shredded, but it was nothing like what happened to Dr. Gregory."

"Fork Guy doesn't do heads," said Miley, "Plus, Dr. Gregory's blood wasn't drained. He was just…decapitated."

"So there's something out there besides Silverware-man?" asked Oliver, "Oh, this town is just one big Monster Island, isn't it?"

"Well, we are on a Hell-Mouth, but I guess that's the same thing," said Miley. She started pacing. "Where's Weatherly Park?"

"Miley, you shouldn't go looking for this thing," said Giles, "It's dangerous. You could get hurt."

"I'm the Slayer, Giles, I heal fast."

"Miley…promise me you won't go after this thing."

Miley thought about it for a second and nodded. "I promise."

* * *

Miley was walking through Weatherly Park that night. _I can't believe I broke my promise to Giles. At least there's nothing and no one here. He probably won't find out. And if something does turn up, I can tell him anyway. He's my Watcher. I trust him. _She looked around. She finally caught sight of the Vampire climbing up a fence. Natalie was on the other side of the fence, just walking home. Fork Guy jumped down behind her. She turned around to face him, not scared at all. Fork Guy took one look at her and ran off to a manhole that led to the sewer system, ducking down into it and closing the manhole behind him. Natalie continued to walk home. Miley just stood there, watching the whole thing go on.

* * *

"You went hunting last night," said Giles to Miley in the library the next morning.

"Yeah," Miley answered.

"After you specifically promised me you wouldn't."

"OK, we get it! I'm a bad person! Can we move on?"

"Did you see someone with a…fork?"

"More like a jumbo claw."

"Well, at least you aren't hurt."

"I didn't fight it. But you wanna know something even more interesting? Ms. French, the teacher subbing for Dr. Gregory, was walking home. Claw Guy comes along, takes one look at her, and runs away."

"He ran away? He was…terrified of Ms. French?" Miley nodded. "Maybe we should keep an eye on her."

"And I have to get to class."

* * *

The science class was taking a test.

"Keep your eyes straight ahead on your own test," Natalie said, walking around the room and keeping watch on all the students. She eventually came to Oliver and glanced at his paper. "I think you meant 'pollination' for number 14," she whispered to him, "I'll see you hear after school."

Miley came down the hall. The door was closed. She looked in the little window. "Oh, great, a pop quiz. And I am missing it. Then again, I'm kind of glad about that."

Inside the class, Natalie had her back turned to Miley. Since none of the students were looking, none of them noticed her turn her head completely around without moving her body in any way. Miley shuddered at what she saw and pinned herself to the wall.

* * *

Miley and Lilly walked into the library to talk to Giles.

"No, I'm not saying she craned her neck," said Miley, "We are talking full-on exorcist twist! Which reminds me, how come Blayne, who worked one-on-one will Ms. French yesterday, isn't here today?" She turned to face Giles. "Did you find anything?"

"I haven't found any sort of creature that can strike fear into a Vampire's heart," Giles answered.

"Then start looking for things that can turn their heads all the way around," said Lilly.

"Nothing human can do that," said Giles.

"Exactly," said Miley, "Nothing _human_…but some insects can." She went up to the bookshelves.

"Where are you going?" asked Giles.

"To do my homework," Miley answered, disappearing into the stacks. She came back after a few seconds. "Where are the books on bugs?"

* * *

Oliver was in the science lab alone with Ms. French. "Hi."

Natalie was in her seat and turned to face him. "Hi. I was just grabbing a snack. Can I fix you something?"

"No, thanks," said Oliver, "I don't really eat when I'm…making model egg sacs and wow." He had just noticed the model. "If this were real, the bugs would be…"

"As big as you," said Natalie.

"Yeah!" Oliver said, "So, where do we start?"

"Actually, I kind of left my paint and stuff at home and I have teacher's conference in a half hour. Do you think you could come to my place at about…7:30 and work on it there?" Oliver nodded. "Here's my address." She wrote it down on a piece of paper and gave it to him. "See you tonight." Oliver sighed, happily, and left the room. After he was gone, Natalie got out her bread. She took a plastic container out of her desk and dumped the contents…crickets (ew, ew, ew!)…on the bread, eating it after she had fixed it (again, ew, ew, ew!).

* * *

Miley finally came out of the stacks with a book. "Get this. A praying mantis can turn it's head at a 180-degree angle when looking for its next prey. Ha!" Lilly and Giles made no reaction. "Come on, guys, ha!"

"Isn't Ms. French sort of big for a bug?" asked Lilly, "And…woman-shaped?"

"OK…" Miley thought of a way to prove her point. "1: Only the praying mantis…and maybe some owls…can rotate its head like that. 2: A pretty whacked-out Vampire is scared to death of her. 3: Her fashion sense screams predator."

"If you're right," said Giles, "then she would have to be a shape-shifter or some sort."

Lilly pulled up a file on the computer. "Miley, Giles, 911! Blayne's mom called the school. He didn't come home last night."

"Didn't he work with Ms. French yesterday?" asked Miley, suspiciously, coming over to Lilly to see the file herself.

"Oh no…Oliver's supposed to be working with her tonight!" Lilly squealed in fright.

"OK, don't panic," said Miley, "I'll warn him. You hack into the coroner's office."

Lilly nodded and started typing. "What are we looking for?"

"Autopsy on Dr. Gregory," Miley answered.

"Uh, is that legal?" asked Giles. Lilly and Miley both scoffed and nodded.

"Of course," Lilly said.

"Totally!" Miley said.

"Right," said Giles, not believing it, "Wasn't here, didn't see it, couldn't of stopped you."

"Good idea," Miley said.

* * *

Miley walked down a hall and came to Oliver. "Oliver! How'd it go with Ms. French?"

"Well, it's a bit demanding being her absolute favorite guy in the universe," answered Oliver, "but I'll muddle through."

"Uh, Oliver, I need to tell you something about her," said Miley, "And…I'm not sure how you're gonna take it." She took a deep breath. "She's not human. She's a big bug." Oliver started laughing. "I know it sounds weird, but--"

"Look, I get it," said Oliver, putting his hand on her shoulder, "I met someone and you're jealous."

Miley was shocked. "What?"

"Look, there's nothing I can do about it. There's just…this attraction between Ms. French and me."

"I know, it's a chemical attractant that insects give off. They're called pheromones."

"She's not an insect. And as hard as that may be for you to conceive, an actual woman finds me attractive. I realize she's no…mystery guy going around giving out leather jackets. And, while we're on the subject, what kind of girlie name is 'Angel' anyway?"

"What does that have to do with this?"

"Nothing! Alright? Look, I gotta go." He left, leaving Miley in a state of shock and confusion.

* * *

Oliver knocked on Ms. French's door. When she opened it, she was in a flowing, spaghetti-strap dress that reached down just below her knees. Oliver simply stared at her.

"Should I change?" Natalie asked.

"No, no, no…uh, I'm just…gonna come in now." Oliver walked in and she closed the door.

"You want something to drink?"

Oliver quickly grabbed a glass of soda from the table and drank it.

"Uh…before we get started, can I ask you a personal question?" Natalie asked.

Oliver set the glass back on the table and shrugged. "Sure."

"Have you ever…been with a woman before?"

"You mean…in the same room as one?"

"You know what I mean."

"Oh, right, uh…there was, uh, several! There was, uh…and quite a few times I, uh…and this one girl, uh…no, never."

"I know. I can tell." She took his hand. "Your hand is so hot."

_Miley took his hand. "Your hand…"_

Oliver thought he could hear muffled screaming coming from somewhere. "What's that?"

"What?"

"Sounds like someone crying…"

"I don't hear anything."

Oliver felt himself getting weaker. He looked down at her hands. "Your hands are really…" Her hands turned into tentacles. "…serrated." Oliver stood up. "I think I…have to…" He fainted.

* * *

Oliver woke up about a half hour later and found himself in a cage in her basement. He looked around and saw a giant praying mantis in the dark not far away preparing her nest. "Ms. French?"

The mantis giggled. "Please, call me Natalie!"

Oliver backed away, frightened, and then remembered Miley. She had warned him that something like this would happen and he hadn't believed her. Maybe if he had he wouldn't be playing prisoner to a 'big bug.'

* * *

Lilly was still typing in the library and Miley was sitting next to her waiting. "Got it!" Lilly exclaimed in excitement. Miley stood up and went over to see. "I hacked into the coroner's office. I got the whole report, complete with…" She shuddered in disgust. "…color pictures."

"There _are_ bite marks," Miley said, "And the match perfectly to the ones from the one insect that bites off its victim's head. They feed head-first. Wait…that's also how they mate."

"No, no, I like Oliver's head! It's got his eyes and his hair and his…adorable smile."

"Relax, he's not in any immediate danger."

* * *

Oliver was trying to pry the bars apart. He stopped and started pacing. He eventually saw who was in the cage connected to his. "Blayne!"

"Oliver!" Blayne said, getting up, "You've got get me out of here. She…when she takes you out of your cage, she…she starts moving and throbbing and these eggs come shooting out of her."

"And then what?" Oliver asked, regretting in as soon as it came out.

"She mates with you. And that's not the worst part. You see her teeth? Right in the middle of…I don't wanna die like that!"

"Relax, we're gonna get out of here. I just need a plan."

* * *

Giles came up to Miley and Lilly. "I found it. She calls herself the She-Mantis. She's a virgin-thief who tears the living flesh from the bones of the--"

"Giles, before we turn 80!" Miley urged.

"Well, basically, she assumes the form of a…beautiful woman and lures innocent virgins into her nest."

"Well…Oliver's not a…" Miley tried to thin of a way to word it. "I mean, he's probably…"

"…gonna die!" Lilly finished for her. She got up and went over to the phone.

"OK, OK, we just find it and snuff it," said Miley.

"I would suggest cleaving the body parts with a sharp blade," Giles said.

"So, we…slice and dice," Miley paraphrased.

"Pretty much, yes," said Giles.

Lilly got off the phone. "Oliver's not home! He told his mom he was going to a teacher's house to work on a project, but he didn't tell her where!"

"OK, Lilly, find Ms. French's school file and get her address. Giles, go record some bat sonar and fast!"

"What?" asked Giles.

"Bats eat them."

"Well, where will I find--"

"In the video library," said Lilly.

"Yeah, there're no books but it's dark and musty! You'll feel right at home, go!" Giles went off to the video library. Miley sighed. "Guess I'll handle armory."

* * *

Oliver was messing with the bars again.

"Don't do anything to make her mad!" Blayne said. Oliver took out one of the bars in between his cage and Blayne's. "Hey, now I can get out of my cage!" Blayne then realized the flaw. "And into yours. Why'd you do that?"

"A weapon," Oliver answered.

Blayne looked and saw that Natalie was coming. "I think you're gonna need it!" Oliver was startled and dropped the bar on the floor.

* * *

Lilly pulled up Ms. French's file. "I got it!"

"Perfect," said Miley, "Giles!"

Giles came up and held up a tape recorder. "Recording bat sonar is a lot like having one's teeth drilled."

Miley took the tape recorder. "Let's roll."

Lilly got off the computer and followed Miley and Giles to the door. "According to Ms. French's files, she was born in 1918. She's 90 years old!"

"And extremely well preserved," Giles commented.

* * *

The 3 of them ran up to the door.

"Do you think we should kick the door down?" asked Lilly.

"Oh, yeah, that would be wrong," Miley said, preparing to do just that. The door opened to reveal a senior lady (and I'm talking _old_ senior not high school senior). Miley put her foot down. "Sorry, we're looking for Ms. French."

"I'm Ms. French," said the old lady.

"Are you sure?" Miley asked, "Natalie French? The substitute science teacher?"

"Oh, dear, that's me!" said the old lady, "I taught for over 30 years. Of course, I retired in 1987."

Miley was shocked. She turned to face Giles and Lilly. "I can't believe this. She used Ms. French's file to get into the school! She could be anywhere!"

"Oh no, dear, I'm right here," said the old lady.

* * *

Oliver was still in his cage. "What's she doing?"

"I think she's coming for you," said Blayne.

Oliver fell down on the floor. The bar was behind him. He picked it up behind his back and used his feet to pull himself toward her…smacking her with the bar and getting up to run as soon as she was close enough.

* * *

"What do we do?" asked Lilly as they walked down the street, looking for the house that Oliver was in.

"I saw her walking past here with grocery bags the other night," said Miley, "She lives in this neighborhood."

"In that case, I'll start banging on doors," said Lilly.

"No, we don't have time," said Miley, "I have a better idea." She went over to a manhole and opened it, getting ready to jump in. "I won't be long."

"Miley?" Giles tried to stop her, but she already jumped down.

After a few minutes, Miley came out of some bushes with Claw Guy fighting her, his arms tied behind his back. "Come on, where is she? I know you're afraid of her, I saw you!" She kicked him and let go. He finally pointed out her house. "Well, it's not extremely efficient, but it's better than radar." Claw Guy cut the ropes with his blades.

"Miley!" Lilly called out in warning.

Miley turned around just in time to see him try to attack her and dodged his attack. She saw a nearby picket fence and withdrew one of the pickets, thrusting it into his heart when he got up, turning him to dust. "At least we know where Ms. French is."

* * *

Natalie had Oliver cornered.

Oliver looked around for a way out. "Can I just say one thing? HELP!"

Miley burst in.

"Hey!" Blayne called out, "Over here! In the cage!"

"Yeah, in a minute," Miley said, kicking Natalie to get her away from Oliver, "Are you OK?" Oliver nodded and saw Lilly and Giles come in. "Get him out of here!" Lilly went over to Blayne and Giles got Oliver out of the way while Miley withdrew the tape recorder and a blade from her bag. "You know Dr. Gregory? You scarfed his head? Well, he taught me that if you do your homework you learn stuff, like what happens to you when you hear this." She hit the button.

"…extremely important not to file simply alphabetically…" the tape played.

"Giles!" Miley snapped.

"You hit the wrong side!" Giles said.

Natalie knocked the tape recorder and knife out of Miley's hands and tried to attack. Miley pushed her out of the way just in time and kicked her. Lilly picked up the tape recorder, flipped over the tape inside and hit play. The bat sonar started screeching. Natalie covered her ears.

"Bat sonar," said Miley, "Can't stand it, can you? Well, we can't stand you!" She picked up the knife and started chopping her apart. After a few minutes, she came over to Giles, Lilly, Oliver, and Blayne.

"I'd say it's deceased," said Giles.

"And dissected," added Lilly.

"Are you OK?" Oliver asked Miley.

Miley nodded. "Yeah. You?"

Oliver shrugged. "I've been better. And, just for the record, you were right and I should have listened to you."

"I'm really glad you're OK, Oliver," said Lilly, "It's so unfair that she only went after virgins."

"Yeah, I—What?"

"Hey, my dad's a lawyer," said Blayne, "Anyone breathes a word of this, they'll find themselves facing a lawsuit."

"Blayne, do yourself a favor and shut up," said Oliver, picking up the knife. He went over and started hacking away at the eggs.

* * *

Later at the Bronze, Miley was at the bar. She was wearing Angel's jacket and Angel just so happened to show up behind her.

"So," said Angel, "word on the street is that there's one less Vampire walking around making a nuisance of himself."

"There is," Miley answered, turning to face him, "Guess I should be thanking you for the tip."

"Pleasure's mine."

"You know, it'd be a lot easier if I knew how to get in touch with you."

"I'll be around." He left.

"Or you could at least tell me who you are?" Miley said. It appeared as though he hadn't heard her, but she knew he had simply ignored it.

* * *

Miley was in a blonde wig at the recording studio the next day, she was about to record her first song. The whole time, she was thinking about Angel. "_ Uh oh, there you go again, talking cinematic. Yeah, you! You're charming, got everybody star-struck. I know how you always seem to go for the obvious instead of me, but get a ticket and you'll see. If we were a movie, you'd be the right guy, and I'd be the best friend that you'd fall in love with in the end! We'd be laughing, watching the sun set. Fade to black. Show the names. Play that happy song. _"

**END EPISODE**


	5. Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Chapter 5: Never Kill a Boy on the First Date

Miley was in a graveyard, fighting a Vampire. "We haven't been properly introduced," she said when she finally had him cornered. She got out a stake. "I'm Miley and you're history." She staked him. He turned to dust.

Giles came up to her from behind a headstone. "Brilliant technique, poorly executed. It should just be plunge, dust, and move on."

"Oh, don't worry, Giles," said Miley, "It was my pleasure to make the world safe for humanity once again."

"Well, it's just that…hello, what's this?" He used his pen to pick up a ring.

"Oh, perfect. I kill them, you fence their stuff. What is it?"

"I don't know. I thought this was just another random kill, but it may be something bigger. I'd better start looking through my books."

* * *

The Master slammed a book on a podium in his lair. "'And there shall come a time of crisis,'" he quoted, "'of worlds hanging in the balance. And in this time shall come the Anointed. And the Slayer will not know him and will not stop him, and he will lead her into Hell.' As it is written, so shall it be." He took the book and started to walk around the room. "'5 will die, and from their ashes the Anointed will rise. The Brethren of Aurelius shall greet him and usher him to his eternal life.' As it is written, so shall it be." He stopped walking in front of one of the Brethren. "'And one of the Brethren shall go out hunting the night before and get himself killed because he couldn't wait to finish his job before he ate.' Oh wait…" He grabbed the Vampire by the throat. "…that's not written anywhere." He threw the Vampire across the room and he landed in a coffin. "The Anointed will be my greatest weapon against the Slayer. If you fail to bring him to me or if you let that girl get in your way…" He slammed the coffin shut. "Here ends the lesson." He slammed the book shut and walked off.

* * *

Miley was in the library the next day, examining the ring as she sat at the table.

Giles came over to her, reading a book. "That symbol on the ring…I believe it's a symbol for fidelity. But it doesn't connect with anything I've studied."

"What about this symbol on the inside?" asked Miley, showing him the ring, "It's the sun and 3 stars. Haven't we seen that somewhere?"

"Let me see that," said Giles, putting down the book and taking the ring, "No, I don't think that represents any…"

Miley was leafing through a book and she stopped on a particular page. "Hey, I found it! Sun and 3 stars, check it out!" She showed him the book. "Told you it looked familiar."

"Yes, the Order of Aurelius. I suppose you're right."

"Ooh, 2 points for the Slayer while the Watcher has yet to score." A blonde boy of about Miley's age walked in. Miley caught sight of him and stood up. "Owen! Hi!"

"What do you want?" asked Giles.

"Uh…a book?" Owen said.

"See, this is a school," said Miley, "and it has students and they check out books and learn stuff."

"Really?" asked Giles, "I was beginning to suspect that was a myth."

"I lost my Emily Dickinson," said Owen.

"Emily Dickens, huh?" said Miley, "She's great! Is she related to Charles Dickens?"

"No…Emily _Dickinson_," Owen corrected.

"Oh!" Miley scoffed. "I knew that!"

"Poetry," said Giles.

"Thanks," said Owen, going over to the stacks, "You know, Miley, I didn't expect to find you here."

Miley followed him. "Why not?"

"Well, you don't seem to be very bookworm-y." He found the book he was looking for.

"Oh, I love books. Absolutely _love_ them." The 2 of them went back to Giles, who took Owen's book over to the checkout counter.

"Well," Owen said to Miley after Giles checked him out, "I'll see you in math…if I open my eyes at some point."

"Cool…" Miley said, staring after him as he left. When he was gone, she squealed in excitement. "That was Owen!"

"Yes, I believe I caught that," said Giles.

"Do you have anymore copies of Emily Dickinson?" asked Miley, "I need one."

"Miley, while the mere fact that you wish to check out a book is grounds for a national holiday, I think we should focus on the problem at hand."

"Right…Vampires." They stood in awkward silence for a few minutes. "Does this outfit make me look fat?"

* * *

"Owen Thurman was talking to you?" Lilly asked as she and Miley sat down to lunch, "He hardly talks to anyone! He can brood for 40 minutes straight. I've clocked him." She picked up her fork and started eating. "So what'd you guys talk about?"

"Emily Dickinson," Miley answered.

"He reads Emily Dickinson?" asked Lilly, "He's sensitive, yet manly! Wait…you've never even read her." Miley put her new book on the table. "You vixen!"

Oliver sat down next to them and picked up some of his food with his fork. "Has anyone given any thought as to what this green stuff is?"

"I'm avoiding the subject," said Lilly.

"I think it's kale…or possibly string cheese." Oliver laid down his fork. "So how'd the slaying go last night, Miley?"

"Oliver!" Miley hissed as some students passed them.

"I meant how'd the _laying_ go?" asked Oliver. Lilly and Miley gave him looks. "No, that's not right either."

"I went fine, thank you," Miley said, "There's a new hoity-toity Vampire sect in town."

"That's not good," said Lilly.

"Well, hey, they're bringing in the tourists," said Oliver. He then noticed Owen on the other side of the room, sitting alone at a lunch table. "Ooh, look at Mr. Excitement."

Miley looked over to him and smiled, grabbing her book and putting it back in her backpack. "Maybe someone should go sit with him." She picked up her tray and got up.

"Good luck, tiger," said Lilly.

Miley started to go over, but Ashley came up from a different direction first. "Oh, look, an empty seat." She bumped into Miley, making her drop her tray on the floor.

Owen got up and went over to Miley. "Here, let me help." He bent down and started to help her pick up her stuff.

"Thanks," said Miley, taking it from him, "I guess Ashley's hips are wider than they look."

Ashley cleared her throat to indicate that she was standing right behind them. "Hey, Owen, a bunch of us are loitering at the Bronze tonight. Do you want to go?"

"Who's all going to be there?" asked Owen.

"You mean besides me and Amber?" Ashley asked.

Owen turned to Miley. "What about you? Are you going?"

"Her?" Ashley asked, "Oh, no, she doesn't like fun."

"How about 8?" asked Owen.

Miley smiled. "Sure, 8. So there!" She picked up her tray and bumped into Ashley on her way back to Oliver and Lilly.

* * *

Miley and Lilly came up into the library.

"It's not that big a deal," said Miley, "It's just a bunch of people getting together."

Giles walked in.

"It is too a big deal!" Lilly said. She turned to Giles. "Tell her!"

"I'm afraid it's very big," said Giles.

"Thank you!" Lilly said, "Wait, huh? 'Afraid'? What are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" asked Giles.

"Boys," Miley and Lilly both said at the same time.

"Of course," said Giles, "Well, I'm talking about trouble. We were spot-on about the Order of Aurelius. Aurelius himself prophesied that the Brethren of his Order would bring the Master the Anointed."

"Who's that?" asked Lilly.

"A warrior," answered Giles, "It says that '5 will die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise.' It should occur the day after the Advent of Septus."

"And we'll be ready," said Miley.

"Which is tonight," said Giles.

"Tonight, OK." Miley then realized the situation. "Not OK! It can't be tonight!"

"My calculations are precise."

"No! They're bad calculations. Bad!"

"Miley has a date with Owen!" Lilly said.

"OK," said Giles, "I'll just jump in my time machine, go back to the 12th century, and tell the Vampires to postpone their ancient prophecy for a few days while you take in dinner and a show."

"OK, right now, you're abusing sarcasm," said Miley.

"Miley, this is no ordinary Vampire," said Giles, "We have to stop him before he reaches the Master."

"But…cute guy!" Miley said, "Teenager! Post-puberty fantasies!"

"Miley," Giles snapped, "those will just have to be put on hold! The dark forces are joining against us and we have to fight back. Tonight we go into battle!"

* * *

Giles and Miley were leaning against a headstone in the graveyard. It was dark and cold and there was no one there, alive or Vampire.

"Perhaps I miscalculated," Giles said.

"You think?" Miley snapped.

"Well, you know what they say," said Giles, "Being a Vampire Slayer is 90% waiting."

"You couldn't have told me that 90% ago?" asked Miley. She stood up straight and looked around. "There aren't any fresh graves. Who's going to rise?"

"Apparently, no one tonight," said Giles.

"So I can bail?" Miley asked, hopefully.

"Very well then," said Giles as Miley started to leave, "But I hope I don't have to warn you about the consequences if someone were to find out you were the Slayer. It would put you and all those around you in danger."

"Then in that case, I won't wear my button that says, 'Hey, I'm the Slayer. Ask me how!' Good night, Giles!" She ran off.

"I was sure it was tonight," said Giles when she was gone, as he started to leave.

* * *

A bus was driving down an empty street on the other side of town. It held only 4 passengers and the driver.

One of the passengers stood up. "There's going to be a day of judgment. That day's going to bring judgment. Don't think you're ready."

"Hey, buddy," said the driver, "Are you going to sit down?"

"Are you willing to stand with the righteous?" asked the man.

Suddenly, one of the Vampires jumped in front of them and the driver slammed the brakes. "Are you guys OK?" the driver asked the passengers, who nodded. He went outside to check on the 'victim'. "Are you OK? Can you move?"

The Vampire grabbed him and bit him, allowing 2 or 3 other Vampires to get on the bus and kill the passengers.

* * *

(Sterling Knight's "Hero" is playing)

…_I can be everything you need,_

_If you're the one for me_

_Like gravity_

_I'll be unstoppable_

Miley came into the Bronze and looked around for Owen.

_I_

_Yeah, I believe in destiny_

_Maybe an ordinary a guy without a soul_

She finally saw him…dancing with Amber. Miley simply looked on, crushed.

_But if you're the one for me,_

_I'll be your hero… _

Miley quickly left.

* * *

Miley slammed her locker shut and turned around to face Oliver.

"So you just went home?" asked Oliver.

"What was I supposed to do?" asked Miley, "Tell Owen, 'Hi, sorry I was late. I was in a graveyard with the librarian waiting for a Vampire rise so I could stop an evil prophecy from coming true'?"

"Or flat tire?" Oliver suggested.

Miley stood up straight. "I can't take this anymore. I feel like everyone is staring at me. The big, hideous, dateless monster." Just then, a student walked by. "What?" The student stopped walking and turned around to face her. "Yeah, that's right, I have no life. Nothing to see here. Move on with your life!" The student ran off. Miley and Oliver started walking down the hall.

"Don't you think you're acting a little overly?" asked Oliver, "You could have any guy in school. I mean, a lot of guys can read."

Miley noticed Owen coming down the hall and stopped walking. "Owen." Oliver stopped walking and looked to see Owen coming their way.

"Hey, Miley," said Owen, "Where were you last night?"

"Uh…my watch broke and we don't have any clocks in my house so I didn't know what time it is or even what day it was," Miley quickly blurted out, mentally scolding herself for not having a decent excuse prepared.

"I thought I was the only one that had happened to," said Owen, slightly laughing, "How about we try again tonight? I'll give you my watch." He put his golden-chained watch around her wrist.

"Tonight?" Miley asked, "You and me?"

Oliver glanced at his watch. It was a simple black one with Tweedy printed in the background. He glanced up at the watch that was now around Miley's wrist and then back at his, jealously.

"I mean," Miley said, "I sort of heard that you were dancing with Amber."

"Are you kidding?" Owen said, "She grabbed me several times and made me dance with her before I told her to back off."

"Oh," Miley said.

"Huh?" Oliver said, under his breath so that only Miley, who dug her foot deep onto his, heard it. He bent over and held his foot in his hand. Owen glanced at him. "Uh…my shoes are untied." He got down on the floor.

"So…" said Owen, "I'll pick you up at 7?"

"Perfect," said Miley, "That's the one right in between the 6 and the 8. See you then." Owen walked off and Miley squealed in excitement.

* * *

Miley walked into the library to find Giles. "Hey! So, how's it going with the Anointed One thing? That'll probably take you a few days, right?"

"Yes, there are a few interpretations."

"So tonight's looking slow, right? Probably best to relax and regroup, right? No big disasters coming, so I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!" She ran out.

"She is the strangest girl," Giles muttered after she left.

* * *

The Master was in his lair, talking to the Brethren. "You have done well. Everything is in place. When this night's work is done, I will have a mighty ally. I'll be one step closer to freeing myself from this...mystical prison. I've been trapped down here for so long that I've nearly forgotten what it's like on the surface. Well, there will be time enough to remember…when I rule it! If she tries to stop us, kill her. Give your lives if you must, but do not fail to bring the Anointed. I know you won't disappoint me."

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were in Miley's room, going through her clothes.

"OK," Miley said, turning to face Oliver. She was wearing a bathrobe and Lilly was holding 2 dresses next to her. "Do I want to look…" Lilly held up a black spaghetti-strap dress with a blue ribbon tied in a bow around the waist. "…shy, coy, and naïve or…" Lilly held up a fiery red short-sleeve dress with orange flowers embroidered at the bottom and a sparkling purple sweater. "…unrestrained, insatiable, and aggressive?"

Oliver was sitting on her bed, watching. "Uh, you know, Owen's kind of home spun. He wouldn't be too fond of the aggressive look." He went over to her closet. "Oh, here's something. A nice, comfy overcoat and a ski cap!" He took out the outfit and held it up to her. "The earflaps bring out your eyes."

Miley stared at him, shaking her head slowly. "Lilly, the black one, please." Lilly handed her the dress while Oliver put up the ski outfit. Miley began to untie her bathrobe and then noticed Oliver staring at her nonchalantly.

"Oh, don't worry, you're not bothering me," said Oliver.

"But you're bothering me!" Miley snapped.

"Oh." Oliver turned around and went over to the other side of the room. While Miley was changing, he tried to sneak a peek through the compact mirror on her table.

"So where's he taking you?" asked Lilly.

"I don't know," said Miley, as she finally slipped into the dress and grabbed her pink purse with a golden strap, "Where do young people go on dates these days?"

"Survey says, 'movie and dinner'," said Lilly while Oliver was coming back over to them.

"Wow, I never knew being a teenager was so full of possibilities," said Miley. She picked up 2 tubes of lipstick. "Oliver, which one do you think Owen will like better, red or peach?"

"Oh, you mean for kissing you and then telling all his friends how easy you are so you lose the whole school respect and people start talking behind your back? The red's fine."

Lilly blinked in amazement and shock. She knew he liked Miley and all, but he had never been so snappy.

"Thanks," said Miley, "I'll go with peach." She put the red tube back in her makeup counter. The doorbell rang. "That's Owen!" She ran to the door and opened it. "That's Giles." Lilly and Oliver came up to her and saw that Giles was at the door.

"We need to talk," said Giles.

"Miley's not home," Miley said, trying to close the door.

Giles pushed the door open and walked in. "My calculations may not have been as far off as I thought." He held up a newspaper.

"'5 Die in Car Accident'?" Lilly read the headline, questionably.

"'5 shall die, and from their ashes the Anointed shall rise,'" said Giles, "That's the prophecy. 5 people have died!"

"In a car crash," said Miley, folding her arms over her chest.

"I know," said Giles, "It doesn't quite follow, but it's worth investigating. Among the dead was Andrew Borba, whom the police had sought for questioning in 2 murders. He must be the Anointed. The bodies have been taken to Malibu Funeral Home, so we can--"

"Giles, why do you want to hurt me?" asked Miley.

"What?" Giles asked.

Owen came in the open door. "Hey."

"You have a date?" asked Giles.

"Yes, but I will return those overdue books tomorrow," said Miley.

"Wait, you can't get off that easily!" Giles snapped.

"Wow, you really care about your work," said Owen.

"Uh, Owen, we need to tell you a few things about tonight," said Oliver as he and Lilly led Owen into the living room and Miley and Giles went out to the dock to talk in private.

"You have another date?" Giles asked.

"No!" Miley complained, "This is the first date! There's never been a date, OK? Last night blew and this is my maiden voyage."

"She doesn't like to dance?" Owen asked Oliver.

"Yeah, and she hates being kissed," said Oliver, "And don't bother touching her."

"Oliver…" Lilly threatened.

"As a matter of fact, don't even look at her!"

"We don't even know if this is anything," argued Miley.

"No, I guess we don't," said Giles.

"And I haven't had a day off in a while," said Miley, "And a cranky Slayer is a careless Slayer."

"Miley, maintaining a normal social life with you duties as Slayer and that singing career you were talking about is problematic at best," Giles explained.

"Hey, Clark Kent has a job!" Miley added, "I just want one date! Is that too much to ask?"

"Well…it is a very slim lead and…"

Miley sighed in relief. "Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Beep me if the apocalypse comes, 'kay? Bye!" she ran over to Owen and told him it was time to go. The 2 of them left Lilly, Oliver, and Giles alone.

"Is something bad going to happen?" asked Lilly.

"Probably not, but I will go to the funeral home and check things out, just in case," Giles said, leaving.

* * *

(Jasmine's song "Make a Movie" is playing)

…_Dancing and moving makes me feel alright_

_I gotta, and that's why_

_Gotta, gotta make a movie of it…_

Owen and Miley were sitting at a table in the Bronze.

"The thing about Emily Dickinson that I love the most," Owen was saying, "is that she's just so incredibly morbid. A lot of loss and death, it just…gets to me."

"Did she lead a tragic and romantic life?" asked Miley.

"Quiet," Owen answered, "Kind of sequestered and uneventful. Which I can really relate to. I don't get out much."

Miley smiled. "I don't really get that."

"I just find most girls pretty frivolous. There's a lot more important things in life than dating, you know?" Miley than remembered her conversation with Giles and looked around in her purse for her pager. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No!" Miley said, "No, you're doing great." She looked at her pager. No messages or anything. She zipped up her purse. "Let's dance." She led him over to the dance floor.

…_We're moving_

_And grooving_

_(Gotta, gotta make a movie of it)_

_You-tube it_

_Then we'll view it_

_(Gotta, gotta make a movie of it)…_

"It's weird," said Owen as he danced close to Miley.

"What is?" Miley asked.

"One minute, I've got you figured out, the next it's like you're 2 different people."

Miley smiled. "I know the feeling."

…_You won't be alone_

_When you flip your phone_

_And look into the camera_

_We're gonna be here filming wit'cha… _

Amber and Ashley walked in and saw Miley with Owen.

"Aren't there laws against this sort of thing?" Amber stomped over to them. "Owen! Look at you. Here all alone."

"Amber, I'm with Miley," Owen corrected.

"Oh!" Amber said, "OK, so do you want to dance?"

"No, I'm still here with Miley," Owen said.

"You're so good to help the needy," said Ashley.

"Amber, Ashley," Miley said, "Owen and I would like to be alone and I suggest you 2 go somewhere that's away!"

Amber gave her a look. "Well," she said to Owen, "when you're ready for the big leagues, let me know." She and Ashley walked off.

* * *

Giles came up to the Malibu Funeral Home. He looked around and then went up to the building. He sensed a presence behind him. He turned around. Nothing. He turned back and saw one of the Brethren in front of him. He started to back away, but there was another one behind him. He quickly opened his bag and pulled out a cross and held it up at them. They recoiled and he ran off as fast as he could into the building. He searched around for a room he could hide in, but they were all locked. The Brethren were coming in after him. He then noticed the door to the morgue and went in there, putting the cross back in his bag. He closed the door behind him and blocked it with a filing cabinet. He went over to the windows, but they were barred. Suddenly, Oliver and Lilly appeared in the bars. "AH!" Giles screamed, startled.

"Relax," Lilly said, "It's us!"

"What are you doing here?" asked Giles.

"We saw those 2 Vampires go in after you," said Oliver, "Thought we should help. Can you get out the window?"

Giles tried to pry the bars apart and stretched his wrist in the process. "'Fraid not."

"Uh, I hate to state the obvious, but this looks like a job for Miley!" Lilly objected.

"Uh, she has her…beeping thing," Giles said, "But there's no phone in here."

"We'll go get her," Oliver said, taking Lilly off.

* * *

Miley and Owen were standing by the stairs.

"Do you want something to eat?" asked Owen.

"Sure," said Miley. Owen walked off and she watched him leave.

Amber was watching, jealously, from the other side of the room with Ashley at her side. "What a disgusting display. Is that really appropriate behavior for a public forum? I've never seen a girl just…fling herself on a guy like that!" She groaned and noticed Angel come in. "Ooh, hello, salty goodness! Someone better call 911, because that guy's gonna need some oxygen when I'm through with him." She then saw Angel go over to Miley. "Why is this happening to me?"

"Miley," Angel said.

Miley turned to face him. "Angel."

"I was hoping I'd find you here. There's some serious stuff happening out there tonight and you need to fight it."

Miley groaned. "Not you too!" She tried to go over to Owen but Angel stopped her.

"What do you know?"

"Prophecy, Anointed One, yada, yada, yada."

"So you know. Fine. I just thought I'd warn you."

"Warn me? Do you see that blonde guy at the bar?" She pointed to Owen, who was getting some food. "He came here to be with me."

"You're here on a date?"

"Yes! Why is that so hard for everyone to believe?"

Owen came over. "Here you--" He noticed Angel.

Miley looked between the 2 guys. "Oh, Owen, this is Angel. Angel, this is Owen, my date!"

"Hey," Angel said plainly.

"Hey!" Owen responded, "So, where do you know Miley from?"

"Work."

Owen turned to Miley. "You work?"

"Well…uh…"

Lilly and Oliver ran up to her. "Miley…"

"Look at this," said Owen, "You 2 show up everywhere."

"You don't know the half of it," said Oliver. He then noticed Angel. "What's he doing here?"

"I'm guessing the same thing you're doing here."

"Uh, what are _any_ of you doing here?" Miley asked, frustrated.

"Well, we…" Oliver tried to think of an excuse. "We, uh…thought we should make this a double date!" He and Lilly put their arms around each other.

"I didn't know you guys were seeing each other," Miley said.

"Well," Lilly said, "we knew it was going to happen eventually, so we thought 'why fight it?'" She giggled.

"And…you guys are thinking double," Owen said. He turned to Angel. "And you're here because of work."

"Hey, maybe we should all go somewhere together!" Oliver suggested, "Like the, uh…Malibu Funeral Home?"

"The funeral home?" asked Miley.

"Actually," said Owen, "that sounds kind of fun. Do you think we could sneak in?"

"Oh, we saw some guys in there before," said Oliver, "They seemed to be…" He turned to Miley and emphasized his next words. "…having fun."

"Oh, bite me!" Miley hissed at herself in frustration. She turned to Angel, who gave her an 'I told you so' look. "Uh, Owen, I need to go."

"I thought we were all going to the funeral home," said Owen.

"No, you can't!" Miley said, "I'll be back in a little while." She took him over a few feet. "You know how you were saying I'm like 2 different people? Well, one of them has to go, but the other really wants to stay. I'll be back, I promise." She, Lilly, and Oliver ran off.

Owen turned to Angel. "She is the strangest girl."

* * *

Miley, Oliver, and Lilly came into the funeral home. They looked around, but didn't see any Vampires.

"OK, Giles is in the back," Lilly said, leading them down a hall. They took a left…a came to a dead end.

"This is so cool!"

Miley gasped and turned around in shock at hearing that voice. "Owen! What are you doing? You can't be here!"

"Oh, and I suppose you guys are allowed in here," said Owen, "What are _you_ doing here? Are we going to see a dead body?"

"Possibly several," said Miley. She turned to Lilly and Oliver. "Keep an eye on him." She went off to look for Giles.

Lilly turned to Owen, thinking up an excuse for Miley leaving. "She probably wants to make sure there are no…guards around."

"Good thinking," Owen and Oliver said at the same time.

Miley was slowly looking around the hall. She found the morgue door open. The place was in shambles. She raced in and looked around. No Vampires, no Giles. "Giles?" His bag was on the autopsy gurney. She opened it and pulled out the cross and then noticed the window bars were torn open.

One of the doors in the body storage opened and Giles pulled himself out, shocking Miley and make her scream and drop the cross. "Oh, it _is_ you. Good." He started to pull himself out. "2 of the Brethren came in here. They came after me but I was more than a match for them." Miley gave him a look as she picked the cross back up. "OK, I hid. This chap was good enough to bunk with me until they went away." He jumped out.

"Were they here after you or was it that prophecy thing?"

"That's what we have to find out. I don't know exactly what these Brethren are meaning to do, find the Anointed or give him something, I don't know. It's all very vague and the Anointed may be long gone."

"Well, we can't take any chances. Let me get Owen and the guys out of the way first."

"You brought your date here with you?"

"I didn't bring him, he came! I'll get rid of him. And, Giles, if he sees you, he's gonna have more questions than he does now. I'm going to have to deal with it." She ran out to the hall and met up with Lilly, Oliver, and Owen.

"Is everything OK?" asked Lilly, "Is it OK for us to leave?"

"But we're not done looking around yet," objected Owen.

"No, she's right," said Miley, "Let's find a nice, quiet room to look around in."

"Well, we tried the office over there, but it's locked," Owen said.

Miley went around him and used her Slayer strength to break the lock when he wasn't looking. "No, it isn't!" She opened the door and let Lilly, Oliver, and Owen into the room. "Uh, I have to go." She noticed Owen's confused look. "To the bathroom. If you hear anything, like a security guard or something, just be really quiet." She turned to Lilly and Oliver. "And barricade the door." She left and went to the morgue, closing the door behind her.

Miley and Giles started looking through the cabinets for the Anointed one when Miley got there. They couldn't find anything.

Back in the office, Lilly and Oliver had started piling furniture in front of the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Owen when he noticed.

"Uh…just in case!" Lilly replied.

Owen turned around and saw a curtain. He drew it open and was shocked by what he saw behind it. "Whoa." Lilly and Oliver stopped piling furniture and turned to see what had shocked Owen so much.

Miley and Giles saw only one storage cell left. Miley slowly opened it. It was empty.

"The Anointed must be gone," said Giles.

"Are you sure this is where they keep all the dead bodies?" asked Miley.

"I've read a lot about death," Owen told Lilly and Oliver, "but I've never seen a dead body before. Do they usually move?" Lilly and Oliver got closer and saw that the body was pulling the sheet off.

Andrew stood up and looked around. He was now a Vampire. "I have been judged!"

Miley and Giles could hear Andrew smashing the window that was separating Andrew from Owen, Lilly, and Oliver and Miley ran down the hall to see what was going on.

Andrew drew closer to the window. "He is risen in me, he fills my head with song." Owen, Lilly, and Oliver began to frantically move furniture away from the door. "You are the unblessed, I can smell it." He stepped through the opening as they finally got the furniture moved and ran through the door. "I'll suck the blood from you for he says that I may!"

Miley, Lilly, Owen, and Oliver met up in the hall.

"He's in there!" Oliver told Miley.

"Uh…" Miley struggled for a solution to their problem, "Go! Get out!" While the others were looking for a way out, Miley starting looking for Andrew.

Lilly, Oliver, and Owen finally found an exit but were blocked by the Brethren. Lilly screamed and Oliver stood in front of her, ready to protect her. The Brethren didn't attack, they just closed the gates.

Lilly heard Andrew coming. "I think he's coming this way!" They ran and found themselves at another dead end.

Miley rushed into the morgue. "What've you got, Giles? Preferably something sharp and wooden." Giles fished around in his bag and pulled out a stake. He tossed it to her and she caught it perfectly. "Thank you! Go outside and make sure the others are OK!" Before she could leave, Andrew came up behind her and threw her into the cabinets, making her fall to the floor unconscious. Giles hurried over to see if he could help her, paying no attention to Andrew.

"Somebody's gotta help Miley," Owen said, running off.

"Owen, wait!" Lilly said, trying to stop him, unsuccessfully. She and Oliver started to follow him as he headed to the morgue.

Miley was awake again, but just barely and she was still on the floor. Giles noticed Andrew coming toward them and held up his cross.

Andrew groaned. "Why does he hurt me?" He slapped Giles' hand away, making him drop the cross. He threw Giles into the furnace controls and the fire in the furnace lit up. While Giles was unconscious, Andrew moved over to Miley.

Owen came running in and saw Andrew raise Miley above his head. "Miley!" He picked up a tray and threw it at Andrew's back, stunning him and making him drop her on the floor. Owen went up to attack him, but Andrew simply grabbed him by the neck and moved in for the bite. He quickly grabbed an urn from a nearby rack and hit him in the head with it, making him drop to the floor. Owen quickly rushed over to Miley and she woke up and tried to sit up. "Did you see that? He tried to bite me!" He helped Miley up, not noticing Andrew coming up behind him and knocking him in the back of the head with one of the body drawers, knocking him out.

"No!" Miley cried out. She turned to Andrew as Owen fell to the floor. She kicked him in the gut and fell on the ground next the gurney. She ran to the other side and hit him with it when he got up and then pushed down on her end so that it hit him in the head, knocking him down again. When he got up and tried to attack her, she blocked it and kicked him in the face. "You killed my date!" He hit her and knocked her to the ground, but she only knocked him back and jumped up.

Lilly and Oliver came to the door and noticed Owen starting to regain consciousness.

"Uh, Miley, Owen's--" Lilly started.

"Just give her a second," Oliver interrupted.

Miley punched Andrew a few more times and kneed him in the gut, knocking him back into a counter as Giles regained consciousness. Andrew lunged at Miley, but she stepped to the side, making him land on the gurney and go flying into the furnace. Giles got up and locked the door behind him, allowing him to burn up and turn to ashes. Miley then turned around and noticed Owen starting to sit up.

"Does anyone have an aspirin?" asked Owen, "Or 60?" Miley smiled and went over to help him up. "What happened to that guy?"

"Oh, we scared him away," said Miley, "I guess this isn't exactly what you had in mind for our first date."

"I know," Owen said, rubbing the back of his head where Andrew had hit him, "I was kind of hoping we could finish at Ben & Jerry's, but I think I'll just walk home." He started to go, but stopped. "Uh, which way's home?"

Lilly walked over to Miley. "We'll make sure he gets there safely." She and Oliver led him out.

"Miley," Giles said, "if I may--"

"Don't!" Miley objected. She left.

* * *

The next day at school, Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were walking alone on the balcony.

"So did Owen say anything about me on the way home?" asked Miley.

"Uh, no, not really," said Oliver.

"But he was pretty incoherent so we might have missed it," Lilly defended.

"I knew it!" Miley groaned, "I blew it! I totally blew it!"

"Now, what you need is a guy who knows your deepest, darkest secrets and still says, 'hey, I like that girl!'" Oliver said, "Some like…"

Miley caught sight of Owen. "Owen!" Lilly and Oliver then saw him and ran off.

"Hi," Owen said, "I don't really know how to say this, but…the thing is…"

"You don't even have to say it," said Miley, "You were freaked out."

"Totally." Miley looked down in unhappiness. "And I liked it."

Miley looked back up. "Really?"

"Yeah, last night was incredible. I never thought nearly getting killed would make me feel so alive!"

Miley's smile faded and she started to walk off again. "So that's why you wanna be with me."

Owen started to follow her. "Yeah. We should do it again sometime. How about tonight we walk around downtown at 3 in the morning and pick a fight in a bar?"

Miley shook her head, regrettably. "I'm sorry, I…I just can't. But, maybe we can still--"

"Just be friends," Owen finished for her. Miley nodded and he left.

Giles came up to Miley as she watched Owen leave. Miley noticed Giles and said nothing, simply going over to a nearby bench and contemplating what was going on. "I was 10 when my father told me I was destined to become Watcher," Giles said, sitting down next to her, "He was one himself and his mother before him."

"Were you thrilled beyond all measure?" asked Miley.

"Actually, no. I thought I was going to become a…a fighter pilot or something." Miley laughed. "My father gave me a very tiresome speech about responsibility and sacrifice." Miley looked down at her feet. "Owen seems like a nice boy."

"Yeah, but he wants to be danger man. You and Lilly and Oliver and even Jackson, you guys know how to handle yourselves. 2 days in my life and Owen really would get himself killed, or I'd get him killed…or someone else."

"I went to the funeral home of my own will."

"And I should've been there but I blew it!"

"Miley, I have volumes of Lore and mythic prophecies and such but I don't have an…instruction manual or any such thing. People plan their lives as they go along. And I must say, as a Slayer, you're doing very well."

Miley smiled. "We did stop that prophecy thing from coming true."

"Exactly. No more Anointed One. And I would imagine that the Master, wherever he is, is having a pretty bad day himself."

* * *

The Master was in his lair. "'And in this time shall come the Anointed. And the Slayer will not know him and will not stop him. And he will lead her into Hell.'" He went over and knelt down next to the little boy named Collin. "Welcome, my friend."

**END EPISODE**


	6. The Pack

Chapter 6: The Pack

Miley was in the zoo on a class field trip. She was walking down one of the crossroads when the 4 bullies in the school, Kyle, Rhonda, Tor, and Heidi came up behind her.

"Oh, look," said Kyle, "It's Miley Stewart and all her friends."

Miley looked around. She was alone. "That's witty," she commented, sarcastically.

"Don't you ever wonder why nobody cool wants to hang out with you?" asked Tor.

Miley shrugged. "Guess I'm just thankful." She started to walk off.

"Were you this popular at your old school before you got kicked out?" mocked Rhonda. She and the others laughed as they ran off.

"We'll see you mock when Hannah Montana gets famous," Miley muttered to herself as she went over to the elephant habitat and started reading the plaque.

Oliver and Lilly ran over.

"Hey, Miley!" said Oliver, "You missed it. Get ready…we saw the zebras mating!"

"Yeah!" said Lilly, "It was like the Heimlich…with stripes!"

"Like the daily special in the school cafeteria?" asked Miley, "Can't believe I missed it. Somehow, I'll find the courage to live on." She started to walk off again.

Lilly followed her, Oliver closely behind. "Where were you?"

"Looking at the fish," Miley answered.

"I'm getting the feeling that you're not in the field trip spirit here," said Oliver.

"We did the same thing every year at my old school in Tennessee," Miley explained.

"Miley," said Oliver, "it's not just about looking at a bunch of animals, it's about not being in class."

Miley stopped walking and Lilly and Oliver stopped not long afterwards. "You know," Miley said, brightening, "I am in a different state so the animals and stuff _are_ new!"

The youngest (and shortest) in the class, Rico, who had skipped several grades, was by the monkey cages, taking notes and sketching the monkeys, when the terrible foursome came over.

"Rico!" Kyle said, "How's it going on your little family reunion?"

Rico gave him a look. "Ha, ha, very funny."

"Hey, does your mom still pick out your lice or are you old enough to do it yourself?" asked Rhonda, leaning against the railing.

"Alright, guys, knock it off!" Rico complained. The only response was Tor taking his book. "Hey! Give me that back!"

Tor was pretty much the tallest in the group, so he just had to hold up the notebook about a foot above his head and Rico couldn't reach it no matter how high he jumped.

Mr. Flutie came up. "What's with all the commotion? I've had it, absolutely HAD IT, with you 4. What're you doing?"

"Nothing," said Kyle.

"Did I ask you to speak?" Mr. Flutie said, "OK, I guess I did, but I want the truth. Rico?"

Rico looked back and forth between Mr. Flutie and Kyle. "Uh…they weren't doing anything. We were just messing around, really." He let out a nervous laugh and playfully elbowed Kyle.

"Alright," said Mr. Flutie. He started to leave and then turned back. "I'm watching you." He left.

Kyle turned to Rico. "You…came through big time!"

"Way to go, Rico!" Heidi commented.

"Flutie has been looking for a reason to come down on us," said Tor.

"Come on," said Kyle, "We're going to go check out the Hyena House."

"Uh, I think it's off limits," said Rico. The 4 bullies started laughing and Rico forced out a laugh or 2 in response. With that, the 5 of them went off to the Hyena House, going under the yellow brigade tape and into the small building. What they didn't know was that Miley, Lilly, and Oliver saw them.

"What are Kyle and his buds doing with Rico?" asked Lilly.

"Probably trying to bribe him for some free hot dogs from his dad's surf shop," Oliver suggested.

"What is with those guys?" asked Miley.

"They're obnoxious, professionally," answered Lilly, "Every school has 4 types of people: the slackers, the nerds, the cool kids, and the bullies. And then there's the 3 of us."

"Well, I better break Rico out before--" Miley started.

Oliver stopped her. "I'll handle this. Normal people equals no slaying." He ducked under the tape and went in.

"Do you think we should follow him?" Miley asked Lilly when Oliver was out of earshot. Lilly shrugged and then thought about the situation and nodded.

Before they could duck under the tape, the zookeeper showed up. "Whoa, you can't go in there. The hyenas are quick to prey on the weak. Anyone who goes in is in for a world of trouble."

"Oh, no one's going in there," said Lilly as she and Miley backed out, "Why is it off limits?"

"It's a quarantine," the zookeeper explained, "These hyenas just came in from Africa, so keep out…even if they call your name." Miley and Lilly exchanged confused looks. "The Masai tribesmen say that hyenas can understand human speech. They follow humans and learn their names. When they get a chance, they'll call out one person's name. Once they're away from their group, the pack devours them."

Kyle and the others ducked under some more tape and went into the Hyena House. "Cool!"

Rico hesitantly stepped in. "Uh, I don't see any hyenas." A hyena came out of a rock in its habitat. "OK, now we've seen it." He tried to leave, but Tor stopped him.

"Looks cute," said Rhonda, "But kind of hungry."

Kyle and Tor were pushing Rico toward the habitat when Oliver ran in. "Hey! Why don't you pick on someone your own species?" He let Rico go. While Rico was running off, the hyena growled and drew the kids' attention to him. His eyes flashed green, and theirs did, too. Rico turned around on his way out to see what was going on with them and fell through the barricade tape. The 4 bullies turned and started laughing. Oliver simply smiled, evilly, and his eyes, once again, flashed green.

That night at the Bronze, Miley and Lilly were at a table together.

"I thought Oliver would be here by now," said Lilly.

"But that would make him on time," said Miley, "We couldn't have that."

"Did he seem upset on the bus ride this morning?" asked Lilly, "He was kind of quiet."

Miley shook her head. "I didn't notice anything. Then again, I'm not quite as hyperaware of him as you are." Lilly gave her a confused look, but Miley could tell she was struggling to fake it. "Oh come on, you're constantly monitoring his moods, his health, his blood pressure. You've got it bad, girl."

"He just makes my head go all tingly, you know?" Lilly said, "It hasn't happened to you? Not even for a strange and mysterious older man whose leather jacket you are wearing right now?"

"It goes with my shoes!" Miley defended in mock annoyance.

"Oh, come on," said Lilly, "Angel pushes your buttons, you know he does!"

"I suppose some girls might find him…attractive." Lilly gave her a look. "If you have eyes. OK, he's a honey, but…he's hardly ever around. And when he is around all he wants to do is talk about Vampires and I just can't have a relationship--"

"He's here!"

"Angel?"

"Oliver!"

Oliver came into the club and went over to Miley and Lilly's table. "Girls!"

"Boy!" Miley mocked.

"Sorry, I'm late," said Oliver, "I…forgot." He caught sight of Miley's burger. "Hungry!" He grabbed it and took a huge bite out of it.

"Uh, Oliver do you still need help with your geometry stuff tomorrow?" asked Lilly, trying to ignore his strange behavior.

"Sure, whatever. Miley, what is this junk?"

"Well, it was my cheesy-veggie burger. We Tennessee people have…strange habits."

"You're telling me," Oliver said, slamming the rest of the burger back on her plate, "I've got to get something to eat. Birds live off this stuff."

Lilly exchanged a confused and worried look with Miley. "Oliver, are you OK? Did I do something?"

Oliver scoffed. "What could you possibly do? That's crazy talk." He sat down and started sniffing Miley.

"OK, now what?" Miley asked, freaked out and annoyed at the same time.

"You took a bath," Oliver noted.

"Yeah, unlike my brother," said Miley, "I'm actually known for it. And the weird behavior award goes to…"

(Cosmic Blush's "All About You" starts to play)

Oliver then noticed Kyle and the others come in. Miley and Lilly noticed them, too.

"Oh, great," said Miley, "It's the winged monkeys."

_I was on my own,_

_I was doing just fine_

_When you came in my life_

Oliver and Kyle simply stared each other down at a distance for a few seconds before Kyle and his group went over to an occupied table.

I was into you

_You were feeling me, too_

_It was all a good_

_Time_

"Hey!" Kyle alerted a kid at the table, "What are you doing sitting on our table?"

Turn me upside-down Turn my world around…

"Yeah," said Rhonda, "Shouldn't you be hovering above the football stadium with 'Goodyear' written on you?" She and the other 3 bullies laughed.

Oliver laughed. "The kid's fat."

…Too blind to see it

_Too in love to believe it_

_What'cha doing to me? _

The next morning in the library, Giles and Miley were training. Giles was wearing gloves and Miley was kicking and punching them.

Finally, Giles ran out of breath. "OK, that's enough training for one day."

"Really?" Miley asked, "That last roundhouse was kind of sloppy. You want me to do it again?"

"No!" Giles objected in a millisecond, "No, we're fine. You just run along and go to class…" Miley left, thinking he was done. "…while I wait for the feeling to return to my arms."

A pig was running through the halls.

"Look out, he's gotten loose!" Mr. Flutie warned as several of the students jumped out of the way of the runaway bacon.

Miley reacted quick and used her animal instincts to stop the pig's rush and pick him up, holding him carefully in her well-trained arms.

Mr. Flutie came up, out of breath, and whooped a huge sigh of relief. "Gave me quite a scare there, Herbert." He turned to the crowd of students looking on from the center of the hall. "Behold the new mascot for Sea-view High!" The audience applauded and then went back to their business, getting ready for the next class to start.

"He's so cute," Miley commented, petting him on the back.

"He is not cute," Mr. Flutie corrected, "He is a fierce Razorback." He pointed to the helmet that had Styrofoam tusks glued to it. "Here are his tusks and the…" He indicated the serrated green foam strapped to Herbert's back. "…scary Razorback."

"You're right," said Miley, "He is a fine mascot who will engender school spirit. And I should know after spending about 15 years on a farm with nearly a dozen pigs."

"Well, he better work on that school spirit, it costs a fortune to feed him. Now let's get him back in that cage." When Mr. Flutie tried to take Herbert in his own arms, though, the pig squealed and struggled around in Miley's arms to show that he wanted to stay with her. Mr. Flutie pointed in the direction of the room where he kept the cage. "This way." He led her off.

Oliver was on a bench, working on geometry homework with Lilly. "I'm not getting this!"

"It's simple," said Lilly, "'The bisector of a vertex is the line that divides the angle of that vertex into 2 equal parts.' And it's the same stuff from last week. You had it down then!"

"Explain _why_ I have to learn this?"

"Because otherwise you'll fail math, flunk out of school, and end up being the guy who sweeps the floor at Chuck E. Cheese's. Or worse, the guy in the giant mouse costume! We've been through this!" Oliver was too busy rubbing his temples to listen. "You know, if you have a headache, rubbing it is only going to make it worse."

"You're right. I need to find the source of the pain." He took the geometry papers, crumpled them up into a ball of waste, and threw it into a nearby wastebasket. "What do you know? I feel better already." He got up and walked away, leaving behind a shocked and offended Lilly.

Mr. Flutie finally got Miley and Herbert to the faculty room. "The problem with you kids today is that you have no school spirit. You're too occupied with shopping and concerts and those dumb movies and stuff on HBO. When I was your age, we cared about the school's reputation and the football team's record. Of course, I was surrounded by guys who kept telling me how much better things were when they were _my_ age, but that's a different story." He went into the room to unlock the cage, leaving Miley in the hall holding Herbert.

Oliver then came into the hall and Herbert started to squeal and shake in Miley's arms. Miley tried to calm him down but was mostly confused about what was wrong about Oliver as she watched him pass and tried to keep Herbert from jumping out of her arms.

Lightning struck outside the gym as the class collected inside.

"OK," said the coach, "It's raining outside and all the regular classes have been cancelled. You know what that means." He held up a red rubber ball with one hand. "Dodge-ball." Most of the class, mainly Lilly, groaned when he said that. "Now, the rules are as follows: you dodge." He tossed the ball to Miley and she caught it perfectly as he blew the whistle and the game began.

Miley threw out the ball as hard as she could without using her Slayer strength, but Oliver was the first to nail a victim. Miley, Oliver, and the 4 bullies were the ones that dodged the most balls the easiest as the coach watched from the sidelines. Miley hit her first victim and then Oliver hit Lilly hard in the back. Lilly gave him a hurt and confused look as she walked off the court and sat down. Eventually, Miley, Rico, Oliver, and the 4 bullies were the only ones left. But Oliver and the bullies ignored Miley completely and threw all their balls and Rico, making him fall to the ground. Miley ran over and helped Rico up, giving the other 5 a killer look as she walked him off. In fact, her look at Oliver was so brutal that if looks could kill he would have died before he knew she was looking at him.

"Whoa, this game is so brutal," said the coach, "I love it!"

Later in the halls, Lilly saw Oliver talking to Kyle, Rhonda, Tor, and Heidi and pulled him away. "What's up with you today?"

"Oh, well, I think I'm acting differently because…my feelings for you have changed." Lilly looked up at him, smiling hopefully as Miley came around the corner and looked on. "I've decided to drop geometry and I won't be needing your help in math." Lilly's smile faded. "Which means I'll never have to look at your pasty face again." He and the 4 bullies all cracked up in laughter as Lilly ran off, struggling to hold back her tears until she got to another hall. Miley simply went up to Oliver and gave him another look, shaking her head disapprovingly, and then went off to comfort Lilly.

Oliver, Kyle, Rhonda, Tor, and Heidi went into the faculty room later and made sure no one was around, closing the blinds and locking the door. They all then concentrated on Herbert in the cage, who was squealing and looking for a way out as Heidi started to shake the cage and break off the top.

"I'm known him my whole life, Miley," said Lilly, "ever since preschool. But he's never said anything like that to me."

"Well, he hasn't really been himself lately," said Miley. She got out a few tissues from her bag.

"Maybe something's wrong with me," said Lilly, blowing her nose after she said it. She'd been crying for about an hour. "I mean, he's not picking on you, he's just sniffing you a lot. Maybe 3 is a crowd and not company." She blew her nose again and held the tissue up to Miley.

"I'm good," Miley said, making Lilly take the tissue back, "And this can't have anything to do with me, that doesn't explain why he's hanging around with Hewey, Dewey, Louie, and…Elmer Fudd. Something weird is going on."

"You lost your sense of humor involving analogies and references to 20th century cartoon characters?" Miley put a hand on her hip and gave her a look. "OK, OK, I get it. I'm taking out my feelings about Oliver on you. So what're we going to do?"

"Talk to the expert on weird."

Giles took a book out of a shelf in the cage in the library. "Oliver's taken to teasing the less fortunate?" Miley nodded. "And there's been noticeable change in demeanor, behavior, and attitude?" Lilly nodded. "It's terrible. He's turned into a 16-year-old boy. Of course, you'll have to kill him."

"Giles, this is serious!" Miley scolded.

"So am I, except for the killing him part," said Giles.

Miley groaned. "I cannot believe that you, of all people, are trying to lecture me. Well, actually, I can believe _that_, but there is something supernatural at work here! Get your books! Look stuff up!"

"Under what?" asked Giles.

"I don't know, that's your department!" Miley added.

"Miley, boys can be cruel. They tease, they prey on the weak, it's a natural teen behavior pattern."

"Wait, say that again?"

"It's a natural teen behavior pattern."

"Yeah, but before that."

"I said they tease."

"Yes, but after that."

"Oh, I think she's talking about the part in the middle," Lilly helped, opening up her laptop, "where you mentioned how 'they prey on the weak.'"

"That's the one!" Miley said, "Oliver's only been acting weird since he into the hyena house at the zoo! And the 4 bullies were there, too. And that zookeeper guy told us how they had just come in from Africa…oh, that laugh! Why didn't I see that before?"

"You're saying that Oliver and those bullies have been possessed by a hyena?" Giles asked. Miley nodded.

"Herbert!" Lilly cried out suddenly as she stopped typing, "They found him in his cage in the faculty office…dead. Eaten. Principal Flutie's freaking out!" Giles started to walk to his office. "Where are you going?"

"To get my books and look stuff up."

Mr. Flutie was stomping angrily through the quad where he saw the pack, not including Oliver. He went over to their table. "You 4!"

"What?" asked Kyle, more mockingly then fake-innocently.

"Don't think I don't know what you did!" Mr. Flutie scolded, "3 kids saw you outside Herbert's room. You're busted!"

"How is Herbert?" asked Rhonda.

"Crunchy!" Heidi answered. All 4 bullies cracked up in hysterical laughter.

"That's it!" Mr. Flutie said, making them all stop laughing, "My office! Now!" He led them all off. "You're gonna have so much detention that your grandchildren will be staying after school."

Lilly kept typing on her laptop as she waited for Giles or Miley to come out with some information.

Miley came out of the stacks carrying an open book in her arms. "Huh. Seems that Noah rejected the hyenas from the ark because he thought they were evil and impure." She closed the book and laid it on the table.

"Hyenas aren't well liked," said Lilly, "A lot of cartoons and kiddy movies tend to mock them and make them the bad guys, especially 'the Lion King.' Why couldn't Oliver be possessed by a puppy or…some ducks or something?"

Giles came out of his office. "The Masai tribesmen have apparently spoken of animal possession for generations. I should have remembered that. Apparently there's a group of animals worshippers called Primals. They believe that humanity, consciousness, and the soul are all a perversion or delusion of spirit and that the animal state is holy. They are able, through trans-possession, to draw the spirits of certain animals to themselves. But only the most predatory animals are of interest, which explains the hyena."

"So, what happens to someone once the spirit's in them?" asked Lilly, reluctantly.

"Well, if it goes unchecked…" Giles showed the book to Miley.

Miley took one look and her expression changed to one of fear and shock. She quickly slammed the book shut and dropped it on the table. "I've gotta find Oliver." She quickly ran off to look for him. She came to the faculty room. The cage was ripped apart and torn open. "Wow. They are strong." She stepped on something hard and looked down to see her foot covering a few pig bones. She picked up one of the bones and turned around to see Oliver. "Oliver!" She tried to go around him, but he quickly blocked her and closed the door. She sighed and turned around. "This is ridiculous. We need to talk." She quickly spun around and pinned him to the ground.

Oliver laughed. "Been waiting for you to jump me."

In Mr. Flutie's office, the pack was each sitting in a different chair and Mr. Flutie was lecturing them. "I've seen some thick things in my life, but this was just insane. What were you thinking?" He turned around and walked around to the window. The pack started to whine and stood up, slowly walking towards him, stalking him. "Is it drugs? A poor, defenseless pig? How could you?" He noticed them coming toward him. "What are you doing?"

Oliver growled and rolled Miley onto the floor, so that he was on top of her with her arms pinned down.

"Get off me," Miley warned, struggling to get out of his grasp.

"Is that really what you want?" asked Oliver, "I think we both know what you really want. You want danger."

"You're in trouble, Oliver," said Miley, "You're infected by hyena possession and, in a few hours, it's going to tear you apart! Literally!"

"Dangerous and mean, right?" Oliver asked, ignoring her warning, "Like Angel, your mystery guy. You like your men dangerous. Well, guess who just got mean."

"Now stop that!" Mr. Flutie warned the pack as they drew closer, "You're only going to make things worse for yourselves. Now I'll tell you how this is going to work. I'm going to call your parents and they're going to take you home." He reached for the phone, but Rhonda knocked it off the table with so much force that it broke.

"Whoops," said Rhonda.

"That's it!" Mr. Flutie said. He tried to get past them, but Tor knocked him into his chair.

"Do you know how long I've waited," Oliver kept ranting as Miley continued to struggle, "until you'd stop pretending we aren't attracted?" Miley finally threw him off her and they both stood up. Oliver slowly approached her as she backed away. "Until Lilly stops kidding herself that she might actually have a chance with me? That I'd settle with anyone besides you?"

"Look, Oliver," said Miley, "I don't want to hurt you."

He pushed her into the wall. "Now do you want to hurt me? Come on, Slayer. I know you like it when you're scared."

"You're this close to expulsion, people!" Mr. Flutie warned, "I'm willing to talk to the school counselor so that we can discuss--" He started to get up, but Heidi pinned him to his chair and Tor climbed up onto his desk. "Now you get down from their this instant!" Rhonda simply scratched him on the arm, tearing apart his jacket and making his arm gush blood. "Are you insane?" Tor jumped onto him, pinning him to the ground as the pack began to devour him.

Miley came into the library, dragging Oliver's unconscious body behind her.

Lilly stood up. "Oliver!" She ran over to them. "What did you do?"

"I hit him," said Miley, dragging Oliver to the cage.

"With what?" Lilly prompted.

"A desk," Miley answered, pushing Oliver into the cage and closing the door and locking it, "He tried his hand at sexual assault. I think it's safe to say that, in his animal state, his idea of wooing doesn't involve a classical CD and a bottle of ice-cold lemonade. Where's Giles?"

"He got called to a teacher's meeting," Lilly answered, "How're we gonna get Oliver back?"

Miley shrugged. "Right now," she said as Giles came into the library behind her, "I'm a little more concerned about what the rest of the pack are up to."

"The rest of the pack were spotted outside the pig's cage and taken to the principal's office," said Giles, "They ate him."

Miley was shocked. "They ate Principal Flutie?"

"The official theory is that wild dogs got into his office and attacked him," said Giles, "There were no witnesses."

"Giles, we have to stop this," said Miley, "How do you trans-possess someone?"

"I'm afraid I still don't have all the details we need," Giles explained, "the accounts are pretty thin, but…" He picked up a book and flipped through it. "Yes, we should be able to transfer the spirits to another human."

"Great, any volunteers?" asked Miley.

"Point taken," said Giles, putting the book back on the table.

"So what we have to do is put the hyena back in the hyena," said Miley. She thought for a couple seconds and then snapped her fingers as an idea hit her. "I'll bet that zookeeper knows something. He probably didn't quarantine the hyenas because they were sick. We should go talk to him. Wait…who's gonna watch Oliver?"

"Oh, I'll do it!" Lilly said, raising her hand.

"Lilly, you can't!" Miley objected, "What if he wakes up?"

"I'll be alright," said Lilly, holding out her hand for the keys, "Go!"

Miley hesitated but finally gave her the keys. She turned to Giles. "Let's go."

Later, Oliver woke up. He looked around to see himself locked in the cage in the library. Lilly was on the computer on the study table, not far away. "Lilly?"

Lilly looked over at him and half-smiled. "How you feeling?"

"Like somebody hit me with a desk," Oliver responded as he stood up, "Why am I locked in a cage?"

"Because you're sick," Lilly answered, quickly thinking up an excuse, just in case, "Miley thought that--"

"Oh, Miley's all-purpose solution," Oliver interrupted, "Punch 'em out and knock 'em down. I'd love to see what she does with someone who _is_ sick."

"Hey, Miley saved both our lives!" Lilly objected.

"Before she came here, our lives were great. Weren't things a lot simpler when they were just you and me? Lilly, I know there's something wrong with me and I think it's getting worse. I need you to help. And if I'm so dangerous, how come Miley left you alone with me?"

"Because I told her to. I know you better than she does. I wanted to be here to see if you were still you." She walked closer to him so that they were inches apart and then jumped back just in time to stop him from grabbing the keys. "Now I know."

Oliver started banging on the cage while Lilly sat back down. "Let me OUT!"

"The students have been possessed by hyenas?" asked the zookeeper, once Miley and Giles had finished going over the story in his office.

"Yes, but you don't seem too shocked about it," Giles answered.

"Those hyenas were imported from Africa," the zookeeper explained, "There was something strange about them from day 1. I did some research and found that that particular breed is very rare and vicious. They were worshipped by these creepy guys. They had rituals for taking the hyenas' spirits and I think that's what could have happened to your kids. And I think we may have enough information to induce a trans-possession. You just have to get those possessed students here."

"Well, we can guarantee you one of them," Miley explained, "but there are 4 more and we don't know where any of them are."

"Don't worry," the zookeeper instructed, "Once they've fed and rested, they'll track down the missing member of their pack and they should come right to you.

Miley then realized the severity of her decision to leave Oliver in the library with only one guard. "Oh no. Lilly!"

The windows near the roof of the wall opened to reveal Kyle and Heidi. "Lilly…Lilly…"

"Cut it out, Oliver!" Lilly scolded, not realizing that he wasn't the one calling her name. When they called her name again, she realized the sound was coming from the window and looked up. Kyle and Heidi jumped in and Lilly got up and ran from the library. While Lilly was running down the hall, the pack all got together and banged down the door to the cage. While Oliver led the others out of the library and began to track her, Lilly was trying a bunch of locked doors to find a hiding place and finally got to an open one. She went inside and hid under a teacher's desk while the pack was catching up on her scent.

Oliver and Heidi came to the door that Lilly had gone through and went inside. As Lilly kept silent under the desk, Oliver looked around, saw nothing, and motioned to the door. When Lilly heard the door close, she stood up. She headed for the door and noticed that Oliver was still there. Lilly screamed and backed up into the wall. Oliver growled and leaped at her but she ducked out of the way just in time. She ran to the other side of the room before he could get up, knocked down a student desk to slow him down, and then ran through the door…and bumped into Heidi.

But before Heidi could pounce, Miley came up behind her and hit her in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher, knocking her out. Miley helped Lilly stand up and they began to run down the hall. As Giles came up, Oliver came out of the classroom and jumped Miley.

"Run!" Giles commanded Lilly, leading her down the hall to a broom closet.

Miley pushed Oliver away and went into the broom closet with Lilly and Giles, closing and locking the door behind her.

The whole pack pounded on the door on the other side, but the lock and Miley's Slayer strength held it up, so they left.

"I think they're gone," Miley said.

"They could be faking it," Lilly suggested.

"No," Miley corrected, "They want meat and they'll be looking for someone weak who can't fight back. Lilly, I'm sorry. I should have never left you alone with Oliver. I didn't know the others would come for you, too!"

"It's OK," Lilly said, "I mean, I almost died, but I'm OK!"

"We have to lead them back to the zoo to stop this," Giles said.

"And before their next meal," Miley said, "Guess that's my job."

"Miley, as individuals, they're almost as strong as you," Giles said, "As a group, they're--"

"They're tough," Miley said, "but I think they're getting stupider. You guys go to the zoo and wait. I'll lead them to you."

A family came out of their house and headed to their car.

"I didn't say 'She looks better than you,'" said the husband/dad, "I said 'She looks better.'"

"I heard what I heard," said the wife/mom as they got into the car.

"I don't see why we have to have this conversation every time we see them," said the guy.

"I didn't start it," said the woman as she put on her seatbelt.

As the guy put on his seatbelt, he looked at the ignition. "Man, where are the keys?"

"Joey…Joey…"

As the family looked around to see who was calling the little boy's name, Kyle got onto the roof and looked into Joey's window. As soon as the mom caught sight of him, she screamed. Heidi and Rhonda jumped onto the roof, too, and started pounding on the car as Oliver came up to the boy's window. Oliver broke the window and reached in for Joey.

As the mom started to attempt to protect her son, Miley ran up and pushed Rhonda off the roof. She jumped onto the roof and kicked Kyle, knocking him into Heidi and pushing them both to the ground and onto Tor and Oliver. "Didn't your moms teach you? Don't play with your food!" The pack all stood up and looked at her as she put her hands on her hips. "Come on. You know what you want. Come get it." She turned and jumped off the car, running down the street as the pack followed her at full speed.

Lilly led Giles down the pathway in the zoo. "Alright, this is the path to the Hyena House." She looked around. "Where's the zookeeper?"

"He's inside, getting things ready," Giles explained, "You go back and come to warn us when you hear the pack and Miley approaching."

Lilly nodded and ran off.

Giles went into the Hyena House. "Doctor…uh, Zookeeper?" The zookeeper came out into the open, dressed entirely in some blue robe. "Of course, the Masai ceremonial garb. Are you otherwise prepared for the trans-possession?"

"Almost," said the zookeeper, nodding.

Giles looked at the floor and noticed some red markings. "Ah, yes, the sacred circle. You would need that to…wait, this would be here when the children first arrived. Why would you--" He stopped in mid-sentence and sighed as he realized what was going on. "It must be very frustrating for you, knowing that school children were able to accomplish something you never could do."

"It bothered me," the zookeeper answered, picking up a staff, "but the power will be mine." Giles started to run, but the zookeeper kicked him in the stomach and knocked him back. He used the staff to knock the Watcher in the face and Giles finally fell to the ground, unconscious. He dropped the staff and dragged Giles off out of sight.

Meanwhile, Lilly looked around the zoo and heard Miley approaching with the pack right behind her. Lilly quickly turned around and ran into the Hyena House. "They're almost here!" She noticed that the zookeeper was there, but Giles and the hyenas weren't. "Where are the hyenas for the trans-possession?"

"In the feeding area." Lilly ran over to see them, but he held her back. "I wouldn't do that. They haven't been fed."

"Where's Giles?"

"He's…lying in wait."

"Well, then shouldn't we bring the hyenas out?"

"Soon enough," said the zookeeper, taking out some rope and beginning to tie her wrists together, "I'm going to need your help."

"They're right behind me!" Miley yelled outside.

"That's Miley," Lilly said, "We better get ready." The zookeeper pushed her in front of him. "What are you doing?"

The zookeeper took out a knife and held it to her throat. "A predatory act, remember?"

"Oh," Lilly said, not catching on, "Right. You pretend to slash my throat and it puts the evil back in the hyenas."

"Something like that."

"What?" Lilly then realized what was going on. She whimpered helplessly as Miley came in. "Miley, it's a trap!"

Before Miley could say or do anything, Oliver came up behind her and knocked her to the ground. The rest of the pack came running in, too. The zookeeper chanted something and the pack looked up at him. Their eyes flashed green, then his eyes flashed green. The zookeeper dropped the knife, turned to Lilly, growled, and moved in to bite her.

"LILLY!" Oliver got up and ran over to the 2. As soon as he was over there, he kicked the guy, knocking him away from her.

As the zookeeper got up and started hitting Oliver, Miley got up, leaving the rest of the pack in confusion, and started fighting the guy. Oliver considered this a free moment and started to release Lilly from her bonds. Miley finally pinned the zookeeper and then threw him into the hyena pit. Before he could escape, the hyenas dragged him back in and started munching on his flesh. Kyle and Co. took that opportunity and ran out.

Miley clapped her hands together. "Well, that takes care of that."

Giles then came in, groaning weakly. "Did I miss anything?"

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were walking across the balcony of the school.

"I heard the vice-principal is taking over until they can find a replacement," said Lilly.

"OK, but I had nothing to do with that, right?" Oliver asked.

"No, you were too busy attacking me," said Miley.

"But you did eat a pig," Lilly said.

Oliver rapidly looked back and forth at the 2 girls. "I ate a pig? Was it cooked and called bacon or--" Lilly and Miley both shook their heads. Oliver groaned and buried his head in his hands. "I ate a pig! I mean, the whole trichinosis issue aside, yuck!"

"Well, it wasn't really you," said Miley, "It was the hyena inside you."

"Actually, all I remember is going up to the Hyena House on the field trip," Oliver explained, "Next thing I know, some guy's coming at Lil with a knife!"

"If it helps, you saved my life," said Lilly.

"Hey, nobody messes with my best girl bud."

"Hey!" Miley said.

"One of my 2 best girl buds," Oliver quickly corrected himself.

Miley smiled. "This is the superior Oliver Oken. Accept no substitutes."

"I didn't do anything else serious, did I?"

Miley and Lilly looked at each other for a few seconds and then shook their heads. "No."

"Good," Oliver said as the girls walked off.

Giles came up to Oliver. "I've been reading up on the animal possession and I cant seem to find anything on memory loss afterwards."

"You won't tell them, will you?" asked Oliver. Giles gave him a look for a couple seconds. "Please?"

Giles smiled. "Your secret dies with me."

"Thanks, man, I owe you one." Oliver walked off. As soon as Giles was out of sight, he shook his head. "What is wrong with me?"

**END EPISODE**


	7. Angel

Chapter 7: Angel

Collin (the Anointed One) was in the Master's laying, throwing pebbles into the pond.

"Zachary didn't return from his hunt last night," the Master said as Darla walked in.

"The Slayer," Darla said.

"Zachary was strong," the Master complained, "Collin, what would you do?"

"I'd annihilate her," Collin said.

The Master sighed. "Out of the mouths of babes…"

"Allow me, Master," said Darla.

"You seem to have a personal interest in this," the Master said. Darla looked at her feet in remorse. "I will send the Three."

Darla looked up at him, excited, intrigued, and surprised at the same time. "The Three?"

* * *

3 tough guys were in the alleyway down the street from the Bronze. Just when they were about to cross over to the Bronze, 3 great big Vamps (the Three, of course) came along. The tough guys saw them coming and scurried off in the other direction.

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were sitting at a table in the Bronze, surrounded by kids chasing after cockroaches and squashing them.

"Ah, the Fumigation Party," said Lilly, "The annual tradition of closing the Bronze for a few days to nuke the cockroaches."

"I think I prefer the annual Pig Slopping Party back in Nashville."

"You Tennesseans and your strange ways," said Oliver.

"Actually I'm kind of thinking about…things right now," said Miley.

"Are we talking about your family coming over to celebrate…" Lilly looked around to make sure no one was listening and then the 3 of them leaned in. "…to celebrate Hannah Montana's first album!" She squealed in excitement: "Eep!"

"Pretty much," Miley explained, "I'm kind of concerned about Aunt Dolly and Mamma being stuck in the same room."

"Let me guess: the whole fight started over a boy," Oliver guessed.

"You got it," said Miley, "Mamma was having a summer romance. But then Aunt Dolly bounced in and…well, that was pretty much all she had to do. And Mamma never forgave her for stealing the love of her life…Mr. Elvis Presley."

Lilly and Oliver gasped. "No!"

"Yes."

"No," Lilly said.

"Yes!"

"No," Lilly said again.

"YES!" Oliver said, annoyed at Lilly's constant retort, "Can we move on now?"

"Well, while we're on the subject of boys, what about Angel?" Lilly asked.

"Oh, yeah, I can just see him in a relationship," said Miley, "'Hi, honey! Your life's in danger. See you next month!'"

"He's not around much, it's true," said Lilly.

"Yeah, but…" Miley sighed, searching for the right words. "It's like, when he is around, it's like the lights dim everywhere else. You know that?"

Lilly glanced at Oliver and smiled. "I sure do."

"Yeah, and…when we're together, it feels like we're the only 2 people in the room."

Lilly gasped. "They saw that's what happens with true love!" Miley got up as Lilly gazed at the ceiling in awe. "At your wedding, I'll be able to say that Oliver and I had been sitting right here when you…" She realized Miley was leaving. "…COMPLETELY IGNORED ME AND WALKED AWAY!"

Miley turned to look back at them. "Sorry, but I think I'm gonna call it a night. You know, big day tomorrow with the Family Feud minus John O'Hurley."

"But don't you wanna stay for like 3 more minutes, maybe dance a little," asked Oliver.

"Rain check?" Miley shrugged and ran off. "BYE!"

Lilly sighed and looked at the floor. "Oh, look, a cockroach!" She stomped it and rested her foot on the table, looking at Oliver. "Wanna free drink?"

"I'm good."

Miley walked out the door, not noticing Angel looking through the window behind her.

"True love, huh?" Angel said to himself.

Miley thought she sensed something (she might have heard him talking) and turned around, but Angel had already left so she turned back and walked down the street. Halfway down the street, she sensed something again and turned to look behind her. "Alright, it's late, I'm tired, I'm not playing games. Show yourself!" As one of the Three came out behind her, she, in one rapid-fire motion, took a stake from her bag and turned around to stake the Vamp. But before she could, another of the Three came in from behind her and grabbed her arm, breaking the stake in half as the other coming out and grabbing the other. "OK, look, guys, I don't wanna fight you…unless I have to." She kicked the first one in the groin, elbowed the second one, and attempted to punch the last one in the nose. But before she could make her final move, the last one kneed her in the gut, knocking her into a fence that was blocking off an alleyway. The other 2 recovered and held her down as the last one approached her, baring his fangs and preparing to strike.

Before he could attack her, Angel appeared from behind him and punched him, knocking him down. "Good dogs don't bite!"

Miley took advantage of the moment to push herself up with her feet and kick the other 2 in the face. As she began to fight the first one, Angel continuously kicked and punched the other 2. Just when Miley ran out of breath and thought she could take a break and let Angel help, the Vampire she was attacking ripped an iron bar from a window and hurried to attack Angel. "Angel, look out!"

Angel finally knocked down the other 2 and quickly turned around, only to be sliced in the chest with the bar.

Miley ran over and kicked the Vamp in the gut. As soon as he was off, she punched him in the face and helped Angel up. "Run!" The 2 of them ran down the street, but the Three gave chase. Miley led Angel halfway down the beach and finally found her house. She got to the door, opened it, and ran inside. "Hurry! Get in!" she called after Angel.

Angel came in and closed and locked the door. "Don't worry," he told Miley as the Three came up, looking through the glass door, "A Vampire can't come in unless it's invited.

"Oh, good, then we don't have to close the back way," Miley said, gesturing to the door on the other side of the balcony, 15 feet away. She then stopped panting and noticed how his shirt was cut open…and his skin. "You're bleeding."

Angel looked down at the blood stain. "Oh, it's…just a scratch."

"After hearing you screaming in the alleyway, I seriously doubt that." She sighed and stood up straight. "I'll go upstairs and get the First Aid kit, you…take off your jacket and shirt."

Angel went over to the kitchen on the other side of the living room and took off his jacket.

Miley came back down and noticed a tattoo on his back shoulder as he took off his shirt. "Nice tattoo…Anyway, I was lucky you came along." She went over and opened the box. "Why were you there anyway?"

"I was in the neighborhood."

"So you weren't following me?"

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know. You're Mystery Guy who shows up everywhere. You're like…the entire League of Extraordinary Gentlemen all wrapped up in 1."

"Huh?"

"You see?" She finished bandaging him. "There."

"So will I live?"

"I think the odds are in your favor."

"Hey, Mile!" the 2 heard a call from outside.

"Oh, boy, Dad!" Miley ran over to the door that led to the back balcony. "Hi, Dad! It sure is nice outside, but it's kind of cool. Why don't we come inside?" She pulled him in and closed the door.

"Uh, what are you so worked up about?"

"Well, you know, there's…a lot of crazy people outside at night."

"Hey, Mile!"

"Oh boy!" Miley turned around to see Jackson coming down the stairs.

Jackson came over to join the group. "OK, I just got off the phone with Coop and we both agree that Hannah Montana's first concert is going to be attracting chicks from all over so I need 2 tickets and I don't care where they go to."

"Find, I'll give you a seat in the balcony so high that your nosebleed will have a nosebleed."

"Well, now, think about this way, darling," said Robbie, going over to put his arm around his son's shoulder, "He meets a hot girl, they fall in love, they get married, he moves out."

"You got the tickets," Miley said.

"Sweet!" Jackson then noticed Angel in the living room putting his jacket back on. "Who's this?"

"Uh…" Miley raced over to Angel. "Angel, this is my dad and my snot-nose brother, Jackson. Jackson, Dad, this is Angel."

"Hey," said Jackson, crossing his arms.

"Hey," Angel said.

"Yeah, we, uh, ran into each other on the way home." Miley gestured to Jackson to let him know that he had helped her with the Vampires and Jackson gave her a look. She pointed to her heart to indicate staking (which, ironically, they hadn't done any of) and he still didn't get it. So she mouthed to him: "Vampires!" Jackson seemed to get it then. Robbie seemed to be too interested in Angel to notice his daughter's strange behavior.

"So, uh, Angel," Robbie said, clapping his hands together and going over to them, "what do you do?"

"Uh, he's a student!" Miley said. Her dad gave her a look as though he didn't believe her. "At the community college. He's helping me with my history, you know I've been toiling in that."

"Hmm." Robbie looked at his watch. "It's a little late for tutoring. Well, I'm gonna go…hit the hay."

"And by that you mean spend the next 20 minutes in the shower shampooing your hair?" Jackson called after him.

"Leave me my pride, boy!"

"Wow," Miley mouthed to no one in particular.

"So, Vamp thing, huh?" Jackson said, "I miss all the fun."

"You know?" Angel asked. Jackson nodded. Angel turned to Miley. "He knows?"

"He kind of caught dusting my first Vamp," Miley explained.

"Yeah, I couldn't let my baby sis into trouble," Jackson said. Both of them gave him looks. "OK, she stole my car keys!"

"It's not like I was intending to go anywhere with no license!" Miley yelled.

"Hey, Mile!" they heard Robbie yell from upstairs, "Is that boy leaving yet?"

"Uh, he's leaving right now!" Miley yelled. She went over to the door, opened it, looked around to make sure the Three were gone, and then slammed the door shut as loud as she could. "Jackson, get out now!"

"Why?" Jackson asked, "I'd just love to watch you get in trouble."

"OK, but could you do it from your room?" Miley asked, "I'll use my Slayer strength to punch you one of those little peep holes in the wall."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep," Jackson going to his room.

Miley led Angel up the stairs, tiptoed to her room, led him in, and quietly shut the door.

"Look," Angel said, "I don't wanna get you in any more trouble."

"And I don't wanna get you dead," Miley retorted, "They could still be out there!" She went over to the window, looked out, and closed it. "So…oh." She realized the flaw in her plan. "OK, 2 of us, 1 bed. Uh, you take the bed."

"No, I'll take the floor," Angel argued.

"Uh, you don't have to," Miley reassured, "I mean, we could probably both fit in the bed."

"Trust me, I've been worse," Angel said, grabbing a blanket and sprawling it out on the floor.

"OK, uh…you go check to see if the Fang Gang is still loitering and, uh…keep your back turned while I change?"

Angel nodded and went over to open the window and then stood out on the balcony to give Miley a few minutes. _She's a remarkable girl. I wonder what the whole 'Hannah Montana' thing was. I'll ask her later. I wonder…no, stop it, you can't like her. It's too dangerous. Then again—_

"So?"

Angel turned around and noticed that Miley was now in her pajamas.

"Uh, I don't see them." Angel came back in and closed the window/doors.

"You know," Miley said, putting her hand on her hip, "I'm the Chosen One. I'm supposed to fight guys like that. What's your excuse?"

"Somebody has to."

Miley scoffed. "So that's what you family thinks as a…viable career choice?" She started laughing, realizing what her humungous family would think if they found out about her being the Slayer.

"Actually, my family's dead."

Miley stopped laughing. "Oh…was it Vampires?"

"It…" He sighed. "It was _a_ Vampire."

"I'm sorry, I--"

"It's OK. It was a long time ago."

"So this is a vengeance gig for you."

"Well…the guy who killed them has been gone for a while now, but…I think the world needs some protection."

Miley smiled and got in the bed. Angel laid down next to her and she handed him her comforter. "Here. Sleep tight." She turned over on her side and then realized something and turned back. "Angel?" Angel looked up at her. "Do you snore?"

"I don't know. It's been a long time since anyone's been in a position to let me know."

* * *

"He spent the night?" Oliver asked the next morning at the library, "In your room? In your bed?"

"Not _in_ my bed!" Miley objected, "_By_ my bed!"

"Oh, that is so romantic!" Lilly said. Miley smiled.

Giles came over with a book. "Now, Miley, you left the Bronze and encountered three unusual Vampires." He held the book down so that she could see the picture. "Did they look like this?"

"That's them," Miley answered.

"It appears you've encountered the Three. Warrior Vampires, very proud and very strong."

"How is it you always know this stuff?" asked Lilly.

"I was up from midnight until 6 am researching it."

"Oh."

"Obviously, you're hurting the Master very much," Giles explained, "He wouldn't send the Three for just anyone. We'll have to step up training with weapons."

"Oh, hey, Miley, you could stay at Lilly's house until these guys are out of the picture," Oliver suggested.

Lilly and Miley both looked at him. "What?"

"Now, now, don't worry about Angel," Oliver said, "I can run to your house and tell him to get out of town really fast. I'll bet he'd enjoy Disneyland."

"Angel and Miley are in no immediate danger," Giles corrected, "Having failed the Master to catch their victim, the Three will hand down their lives."

* * *

In the Master's lair, the Three were kneeled before Collin, Darla, and the Master, one of them holding a spear.

"We have failed you, Master," said the one with the spear, handing the spear to Darla, "We offer you our lives as penance." Darla took the spear and started to walk around the Three.

"Pay attention, child," the Master said, kneeling down next to Collin, "You are the Anointed and there is much you must learn. With power comes responsibility. True, they did fail, but we who walk by night share a common bond. The taking of a life, and I'm not talking about humans', of course, is a serious matter."

"So you would spare them?" Collin asked.

"I am weary. And their deaths will bring me little joy."

Darla smiled and dug the wooden end of the spear deep into the first of the Three's heart.

The Master winced and led Collin away as Darla moved on to the next one. "Of course, sometimes a little is enough."

* * *

As Miley examined the weapons cabinet, Giles laid out a sign on library door that read: "Library closed for filing. Please come back tomorrow."

Miley picked up a crossbow. "Cool, a crossbow!" She picked out a bolt and began to load it. "Goodbye stakes, hello flying fatality! So what can I shoot?" She accidentally hit the trigger and the bolt went flying across that room and smashing the window.

"Nothing." Giles took the crossbow from her and put it back in the cabinet. "The crossbow comes later. You must first become proficient with the basic tools of combat. Let's begin with the quarterstaff. It will require hours of vigorous training and I speak from experience." Miley rolled her eyes. "En garde!" He moved in to hit her, but Miley ducked out of the way and used her own wooden staff to pull his feet out from under him, making him drop his staff and fall to the ground. "OK, let's move on to the crossbow."

* * *

Miley came into her house. "Hey, is Aunt Dolly here yet?"

Robbie and Jackson came over. "She arrived a couple hours ago and now she's in the guest room. Your Mamma's on the way now."

"And by the way, are you sure you can't give up your room?" Jackson asked, begging.

"Sorry, my room's occupied," Miley said, sitting down on the couch, "Oh, man, this is really gonna mess up your back." She laughed. "So where's Mamma?"

Just then, they heard a crash and a cat screech.

"That must be her," said Robbie.

"How can you be so sure?" Jackson asked.

"Tip? You want a tip? If you are not gonna use deodorant, make sure your back windows roll down!"

"Just a hunch," Robbie said.

After a couple seconds, in walked Grandma Ruthie Stewart.

"Mamma!" Jackson and Miley both said, running over to hug her.

"There they are!" Ruthie said, "My handsome grandson, Jackson, and my beautiful granddaughter, Mi—I mean, Hannah." She winked at her.

Miley smiled and gave her a thumbs-up. "This is great. My first album and everyone I love is here to help me celebrate! You…" She tried to whisper the next part. "…Aunt Dolly…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ruthie interrupted, "Back this tractor trailer up. You're telling me that 5-pound baloney in a 3-pound bag of--"

"OK, let's not waste our time fighting," Miley said, "This is a big week for me so could you promise to try to be nice? Please?"

"OK, I'll chillax." Everyone gave her weird looks. "What? I'm Hannah Montana's grandmother. I gotta keep up on the teen scene so I can be frikky-frikky-fresh."

Miley went over to Jackson and whispered so that their Mamma couldn't hear her. "OK, that is just wikky-wikky-weird."

Just then, Dolly Parton came into the room in a bright green bathrobe. "Hey." She walked over to the group. "I can see dolphins from my guestroom."

"Well, that's nothing, there's a snot-green blowfish right here in the living room," said Ruthie, going over to her.

"Now, Ruthie, if you're gonna be mean, talk to the bootie," Dolly said, "Cause the hand's off duty!"

"Well, I would love to, but that bootie has been nipped and tucked so many times, I just can't hardly find it!"

"Well, I ain't having no problem finding yours!"

Miley pulled the 2 of them in for a hug. "Family! So great to have you here."

"Good times!" Robbie said, coming into the hug, too, "Good times!"

* * *

Miley came into her room that night. Angel was over by the window. "Hey. I brought you some dinner. It's a little plate-less, sorry." She handed him a plastic bag full of chicken. Angel smiled and accepted it anyway.

"So, what'd you do all day?" Miley asked.

"I read a little."

Miley turned her head and noticed her journal on her bedside table. "You read my diary! That is so…I don't even have a word for that! You can't just go pilfering around in other people's private lives! And…that whole thing about your eyes being 'penetrating'…I meant to say 'bulging'!"

"Miley…"

"And 'hunk' can mean a lot of things, bad things. And 'A' doesn't even stand for Angel for that matter, it…it stands for Achmed, a charming foreign exchange student, so that whole fantasy thing was a--"

"Your brother snuck in and read your diary," Angel corrected, "I was in the closet all day. I didn't touch it, I promise you."

"Oh!" She then realized what she'd just said. "Oh."

"I did a lot of thinking today, though," Angel said, "And I probably shouldn't be around you."

"Hey, no problem, I'll build a bridge and get over it!"

"Clever, but…I was talking about how much I wanna kiss you."

"I could even build a dam and…kiss me?"

"I'm older than you and…this can't ever…" He sighed. "I have to go."

"Uh, how much older are we talking?"

"I should--"

"…go. But…you said." She moved in and they kissed. Miley put her arm around him.

_I was afraid this was going to happen. Why was I afraid again? Oh, right. It's time to show her. _Angel pulled back.

"Uh, are you OK?"

Angel looked back at her…with his game face on.

Miley screamed as Angel jumped out the window and went running down the beach.

Robbie came busting in the door, swinging a stuffed raccoon. "Miley, what's going on?"

"Uh, nothing, I, uh…saw a shadow." She then noticed the raccoon. "What were you gonna do? Raccoon 'em to smithereens?"

"I just grabbed what was on my nightstand."

"You keep an angry raccoon on your nightstand?"

"Honey, Buster's also a light." He hit a button and the raccoon's mouth lit up.

Jackson then came bursting in, waving around a stuffed badger. "I heard shouting! What's going on?"

"Why does everyone have a light-up critter but me?" Miley complained.

"What? Oh, Dave doesn't light up. He's a pencil sharpener. You just, uh, lift his tail--"

"I don't need to see that!" Miley said, blocking her eyes.

* * *

The next morning at school, Lilly, Oliver, and Giles were all sitting down on a bench next to Miley, listening to her story.

"Angel's a Vampire?" Lilly asked, shocked.

"I can't believe this is happening," Miley said, "One minute we were kissing and the next…" She sighed and turned to Giles. "Can a Vampire be a good person?"

"Miley, a Vampire's not even a person at all," Giles corrected, "It may have the appearance, the memories, and maybe even the personality of the person it took over but it's still a demon."

"So, that'd be a 'no'?" Lilly asked.

"Well, then what was he doing?" asked Miley, "Why was he so good to me? Was it all part of the Master's plan? It just doesn't make any sense!"

"OK, you have a problem," said Oliver, "But, you're the Slayer, he's a Vampire. I think it's pretty obvious what you have to do. And I know you have feelings for the guy but it's not like you were in love with…" He stopped when he saw Miley's look. "Oh boy, you're in love with a Vampire? Are you crazy?"

"What?"

Everyone turned and saw Ashley standing right next to them.

"Uh, not Vampire!" Oliver turned back to Miley. "How could you love an umpire? Everybody hate 'em!"

Ashley rolled her eyes and then noticed that the girl Amber was talking to was wearing the same dress as her. "HEY!" She ran over to the girl. "Where did you get that dress? This is a one-of-a-kind! Are you wearing a knock-off?" She checked the girl's tag. "This is a knock-off!"

"And you think we have problems?" Miley asked Giles.

* * *

Angel walked into his apartment. He went over to his deck and turned on a lamp. Then he sensed a presence in the room. "Who's here?"

"A friend." Angel turned to face the voice and saw Darla come out of the darkness in a Catholic schoolgirl outfit. "Hi. It's been a long time."

"A lifetime."

"Or 2, but who's counting."

"What's up with the Catholic schoolgirl look? Last time I saw you it was kimonos."

"Well, last time I saw you, it wasn't high-school-pop-stars-in-training." She flared the skirt. "Don't you like it?" Angel gave her a look. She sighed and dropped the skirt, beginning to approach him. "I like the place. You're living above ground, like one of them." She went over to the window. "But guess what? You're not one of them." She opened the blinds, letting in a stream of sunlight. Angel scrambled out of the way, falling backwards onto the floor. "You never will be."

"No, but I'm not exactly one of you either," Angel said, standing up.

Darla scoffed. "Is that what you tell yourself these days?" She went over to the fridge and opened it to reveal bags and bottles of pig's blood. "You're not exactly living off quiche." She sighed and closed the door. "We both know what you want." She walked over to him. "Come on, it's nothing to be ashamed of. It's who we are…what we are. It's what makes eternal life worth living. You can only hold back your true nature for so long. You can feel it brewing inside of you. I hope I'm around when it explodes."

"Maybe you don't want to be," Angel argued.

"I'm not scared of you." Darla began to walk off, avoiding the stream of sunlight. "But maybe she is. Go ahead, tell her about the curse. Do you think it's going to make her think any different of you? 'Cause if it doesn't…you know where to find me." She cackled and walked out of the apartment, leaving behind a very angered and aggrieved Angel to ponder her [many] words.

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were looking through books in the library.

Giles came over to the group with another book. "I think I may have found something."

"Oh, finally," said Oliver, closing his book.

"I couldn't find anything in the texts about any Angel," Giles said, "but then it occurred to me that I haven't read the diaries of the Watchers before me in ages."

"Wasn't it kind of embarrassing when you thought he read your diary?" Lilly asked Miley, "But he hadn't, Jackson had, and then you realized that you had poured your heart out to him and he felt the same way. I mean, it's just so roman--" She then realized that everyone was giving her looks. "I'm listening."

"Apparently, some 200 years ago in Ireland, he went by the name of Angelus, the demon with the face of an angel."

"Well, they got that part right," said Miley.

"I'm not saying anything," said Oliver, "I have nothing to say."

"Does Angel have a tattoo behind his right shoulder?" Giles asked Miley.

"Yeah, it's a…bird of something."

"OK, now I'm saying something," Oliver objected, "You saw him naked?"

"So Angel's been around for a while?" Lilly asked Giles in order to quickly change the subject.

"Yes, 240 years," Giles answered.

"240?" Miley said, "Well, he did say he was older."

"Uh…Angelus leaves Ireland, wreaks havoc in Europe for nearly 150 years, and then…huh."

"'Huh' what?" asked Miley.

"The strangest thing," Giles said, "He comes to America, shuns other Vampires, and lives alone. And there's no record of him hunting here or anything."

"So he is a good Vampire!" Lilly rejoiced, "I mean on a scale of 1-10, 10 being someone who maims and kills every night and 1 being someone who…doesn't."

"I said that there's no record," said Giles, "But Vampires hunt and kill, it's what they do."

"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly."

Miley groaned when she heard that voice. "How long have you been here, Jackson?"

Jackson walked over to them. "About 10 minutes. Who're your friends?"

"Hi, I'm Lilly Truscott," Lilly said, holding out her hand.

"Oh, trust me, Lilly, you don't wanna do that," Miley warned. Lilly pulled her hand back.

"Oliver 'Smokin'' Oken," Oliver said, "And I've gone by that names for 5 years now."

Giles walked over to Jackson. "You must be Miley's older brother, Jackson Stewart."

"In the flesh. I knew something was up with this Angel guy since the first moment I saw him."

"You mean 2 nights ago?" Miley asked.

"Yeah."

"But he could have fed off me," Miley said, "And he didn't!"

"Uh, question!" Oliver said, leaning forward, "About 100 or so years ago, what was he like then?"

"Just like all the others," Giles answered, "A vicious, killing monster."

* * *

"Don't think I'm not grateful," Darla told the Master, "for you letting me kill the Three."

"How can my children learn if I do everything for them?" asked the Master.

"Then let me kill the Slayer!" Darla objected.

"Are _you_ giving _me_ orders now?"

"Oh, then we just sit back and do nothing while we let her kill us off one by one!"

"Am I sensing a plan, Darla? Share…"

Darla smiled. "Angel kills her and comes into the fold."

"Angel? He was the most vicious killer I ever met."

"I know. I miss him."

"Why would he kill her if he feels for her?"

"To keep her from killing him."

The Master smiled and turned to Collin. "You see how we all work together to our common goal? That's how a family is supposed to function!"

* * *

"OK, so let's review," Lilly told Miley as they sat on separate ends of the table in the library (the guys had left), "Reconstruction began when?" Miley made no response. Lilly banged on the table. "Miley!"

"WHAT?" Miley leaned in closer. Lilly gave her a look. "Oh, right, uh…reconstruction…uh, began…after the construction which was shoddy so they had to…reconstruct."

"No, after the destruction of the Civil War," Lilly corrected.

"Right, Civil War, during which Angel was already 100-years-old and--"

"Miley. Are we going to talk about boys or help you pass history?" Miley sighed and leaned back in her chair. Lilly closed her book. "You know, sometimes I…have this fantasy that Oliver is just going to sweep me off my feet and…kiss me."

Miley smiled. "That's kind of sweet." She banged her hands on the table. "If you want him, you better SPEAK UP, girl!"

"No! No speaking up! That way leads to madness! MADNESS, I TELL YOU!" While Lilly was caught up in her rant, neither girl seemed to notice Darla in the stacks. "OK, so here's something I gotta know: when Angel kissed you, I mean, before he went all bumpy-face, what was it like?" Darla was taken aback.

Miley smiled again. "Unbelievable!"

"Wow, it just screams TV series!" Lilly said, "Or movie at least. I mean, a Slayer who probably won't live past 21 in love with a Vampire who's going to stay young and handsome forever. And oh, what about the children?" She then caught Miley's look. "That was way more romantic than disturbing and kind of morbid in my head."

Miley smiled. "It's OK, I need to hear this. I need to get over him so that I can…do what I have to do. Like Oliver said, I'm a Slayer, he's a Vampire…oh, Lilly, I CAN'T DO IT! He's never done anything to hurt me!" She sighed. "No, I…I need to stop thinking about this. Let's do this for…about another half hour and see if it sinks in."

"OK." Lilly continued to help Miley study as Darla grabbed some books and left.

* * *

Robbie and Dolly came into the living room of the beach house. Ruthie was in the kitchen.

"Ma, Jackson's on a date and we're going to the grocery store," Robbie explained.

"Oh, good, that rhinestone hillbilly ought to like it if you can take her to the salon and get her some real hair," Ruthie said.

"You know what?" Dolly said as she walked over to the door, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." She opened the door to reveal Darla on the other side, preparing to knock.

"Oh, hey," Darla said, "I'm Darla, a friend of Miley's."

"Oh!" Dolly said, "Well, it's nice to meet you."

"She didn't say anything about me coming, did she?"

"Not really," Robbie said.

"Well, I'm actually tutoring her in history in about 5 minutes and I thought I'd come early."

"I thought Lilly--" Robbie started.

"Well, actually, yeah. Lilly's teaching her stuff on the Civil War but I'm supposed to help her with the War for Independence. My family kind of…goes back to those days."

"Oh, well, we're going to the grocery store and she should be home soon," Robbie said, "Why don't you come in and wait?"

Darla walked in. "So kind of you to invite me into your house."

"No problem," Robbie said, "Later!" He and Dolly left, closing the door behind them.

Ruthie smiled at her. "So, you're one of Miley's friends." Darla smiled and nodded. "Would you like something to eat?"

"Yes, I would!" _She's a little older than I'd like, but I can make it work._

Ruthie opened the fridge. "Let's see what we have. Are you in the mood for something little or something big?"

Darla put the books down, came up behind her, and Vamped out. "Something big."

Outside, Angel came up to the door. He almost knocked but then decided not to and started to back away. Before he could leave the deck, he heard a scream. He came back to the door and tried to open it but Robbie and Dolly had locked it, so he kicked it in, revealing Darla biting Ruthie. "Let her go!" he said, getting closer.

"Oh, I just had a little, there's plenty more." Darla dropped the unconscious body of Miley's grandmother into Angel's arms. "Come on, you know you want to. Just say 'yes.'"

Angel could smell the blood. He tried to look away from it, but when he turned back to Darla, he had his game face on.

"Welcome home." Darla turned and walked out the door in the kitchen.

Miley chose that moment to walk in through the back door. "Dad, I'm home!" She then noticed Angel. The 2 looked at each other in silence for a little while…and Miley threw him out the back door (which was made of glass, by the way), making him land on his face in the sand outside. "Come back here and I'll kill you." She went back inside, letting Angel go off by himself, and picked up the phone to dial 911. "Mamma, can you hear me?" The operator answered. "Yes, I need an ambulance. My grandmother cut herself and lost a lot of blood!" She gave them the address and then hung up.

"Hey, Miley!" Oliver walked in with Lilly. Their faces turned from happiness to fright and utter shock when they saw what had happened. "Oh, no…"

"What happened?" asked Lilly.

"Angel!"

* * *

Miley, Lilly, Oliver, Jackson, Robbie, and Dolly were gathered around Ruthie's bed.

"Do you remember anything, Mamma?" asked Miley.

"Well, your friend came over…" Robbie started as Giles found the room and came in.

"My friend?"

"Yeah…" Ruthie said, "I went to start making a snack…I guess I slipped and cut myself with a…doctor said it looked like a barbeque fork."

"We don't have a barbeque fork, Ma," Robbie said.

Dolly looked to see Giles. "A-Are you another doctor?"

"Uh, no, I'm Mr. Giles, the librarian at Miley's school," said Giles, "I came to…pay my regards and wish her grandmother a safe recovery."

"Wow, they really _do_ care at that school," said Robbie.

"Get some rest, Mamma," Miley said as she got up, "Dad, Aunt Dolly, can you stay and watch her?"

"Does her outfit make her look trampy?" Mamma asked in return. Dolly gave her a look.

Miley rolled her eyes and led Giles, Lilly, Oliver, and Jackson out of the room. "They treated her, but her blood count was…a little…"

"A little low," Giles finished for her, "It presents itself as mild anemia. You were lucky you got her here as soon as you did--"

"'Lucky'?" Miley practically shouted, "More like stupid!"

"Miley!" Jackson scolded, "It wasn't your fault!"

"Of course, it was!" Miley argued, "I'm the one that invited into our house. And even _after_ I knew what he was, I didn't do anything about it! I let this happen, all because…because I had feelings for him."

Jackson could see she was beginning to cry. "Oh, no…oh, no, no, no, no, no. Here come the waterworks. Mile? Baby sis? Look, you'll move on. You'll slay him, Mamma will recover, and then you'll get a new boyfriend and everything will go back to…well, not entirely normal."

Miley half-smiled. "Thanks for trying, bro, but it didn't work!"

"Jackson, Miley has a point," Lilly said, "If you care about someone, then you care about them. You can't change that by--"

"…By killing them?" Miley completed for her, "Maybe not, but I think it's a start." She walked down the hall and turned the corner.

Giles ran after her, leaving Jackson, Lilly, and Oliver behind. "Miley, this is no ordinary Vampire. He knows you, he's faced the Three! This is going to take more than a simple stake."

"I know."

* * *

Miley grabbed the crossbow from the weapons cabinet and placed a few dozen bolts in her bag. She loaded one in the crossbow and aimed it at the training dummy. She held it up, aimed, and fired, nailing it in the exact place the heart would be.

* * *

"She's out hunting you right now," Darla told Angel in his apartment, "She wants to kill you."

"Leave me alone," Angel said, walking away from her over to the wall.

"What did you think?" Darla asked him as she walked over to him, "That she would look at your face, you true face…and accept it? Yeah, right. For 100 years, you've not had a moment's peace because you will not accept what you are…who you are…when that's all you have to do. Don't let her hunt you down. Don't run crawling out whimpering that a mangy cat! Kill! Feed! Live!"

Angel felt his anger rising and pinned Darla to the wall. "Fine!"

Darla smiled. "What do you want?"

"I want it finished!"

"That's good…you're hurting me." She laughed. "That's good, too."

* * *

While Miley was making her way to the Bronze, knowing that Angel lived nearby, Giles was sitting by Ruthie's bed with Robbie and Dolly, Jackson and Lilly and Oliver waiting in the hall.

"You know, she talks about you all the time," Robbie told Giles, "It's important to have teachers who…make an impression."

"Well, she's…made quite an impression herself," Giles responded.

"Now, about history," said Robbie, "Is it that she's not applying herself or that it's too difficult for her?"

"Well, she kind of lives in the now with--"

"Man, she's studying with Lilly, she's studying with Darla, trust me, boy, she's trying," Ruthie told her son.

"Darla?" Giles asked, "I don't believe I've met Darla."

"The friend that came over tonight to help her study," Ruthie said, "Poor thing. I must have scared her half to death. Someone ought to go check on her."

"Of course," Giles said, getting up, "I'll do it!" He ran out.

"That school _is_ amazing!" Dolly said.

Giles led Lilly, Jackson, and Oliver down the hall and out of earshot of any of the doctors or anyone. "We have a problem."

* * *

Miley came into the Bronze, not seeing Angel gazing at her in the shadows. "I know you're in here! And I know what you are!"

"Do you?" Angel came out of the shadows to reveal himself. Miley pointed her crossbow at him. "I'm just an animal, right?"

"You're not animal. Animals are good. And I should know after having grown up on a farm!"

"Let's get this over with." Angel put on his game face. Miley pointed the crossbow at him, but she just couldn't get herself to pull the trigger. Angel turned back to normal. "Come on! Don't go soft on me now!" Miley launched it…and the bolt hit the wall behind him. "Little wide."

Miley took out another bolt to reload it…and got frustrated and just threw it to the side. "Why?" Angel gave her a confused look. "Why didn't you attack me when you had the chance? Slayer…Vampire…you do the math!" She buried her face in her hands. "You know, I've slain a lot of Vampires, but I've never hated one before. I invited you into my home…and then you attacked my family!"

"Why not? I killed mine. I killed them all! I killed their friends, my old friends, all their children. For over a hundred years, I killed every living thing I met!"

"Well, what changed?" Miley said. She started inching toward the crossbow.

"I fed on a girl about your age…beautiful…dumb as a post…but a favorite among her clan."

"'Her clan'?" Miley asked, picking up the crossbow and the bolt.

"Romanian Gypsies. They gave me my soul back as a punishment."

"What, they were all out of the '10 Plagues of Egypt' spells?" Miley asked, starting to reload the crossbow.

"When you're turned, the demon takes over. It doesn't take your soul. You have no idea how much it hurts to have done the things I've done…and to care. I haven't fed off a single living soul since that day." _Well, except for that guy I turned in the Second World War, but that's an entirely different subject._

"So you started with my…whacked-out…family?" Miley asked, holding up the crossbow as a threat.

"I didn't touch her. I would never hurt someone who's dear to you."

Miley groaned and let the crossbow down. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Because I wanted to kill you."

Miley pulled her hair away from her neck. "Go ahead." Angel started to take a step but pulled himself back. He couldn't hurt her. He loved her. Miley dropped her hair back. "Not as easy as it looks, is it?"

"Of course, it is."

Miley and Angel turned to see Darla coming out of the darkness.

Meanwhile, Jackson, Lilly, Oliver, and Giles came up to the Bronze.

"We have to go up to the top floor and look for her," Giles said, gesturing to the ladder on the side of the building.

"Uh," Oliver said, "question: what if we find her and she's fighting Angel and a bunch of his friends?"

"He's right," Jackson said, "What on earth are we going to do about it?"

"Do you know what the saddest thing in the world is?" Darla asked Miley.

"Bad hair on top of that dumb outfit?" Miley said.

"To love someone who used to love you."

Miley looked back and forth between the 2 Vampires. "You guys were involved?"

"'Involved?' I made him." She turned to Angel. "We could have shared everything, Angelus. You could have served with me in the Master's court for 1000 years! Now you'll always remember what it was like to watch 'your true love' die. You don't think I came alone, did you?"

"I know I didn't!" Miley held up the crossbow.

"Hmm, scary…" Darla pulled out 2 pistols. "Scarier!" She fired and the bullets hit Angel. Miley whimpered. "Oh, relax! Bullets can't kill Vampires! Hurts like the dickens, but--" She stopped her sentence and fired at Miley, who dodged out of the way.

Jackson was the highest up on the ladder and was thus the first to hear the gunshot and stopped climbing. "Did you hear that?" He then realized what it was and they all scrambled up the ladder and found a way into the building.

Darla was giggling as Miley scrambled to avoid the shots and balance her crossbow to fire. "So many body parts, so few bullets." Miley finally got her crossbow straight and fired it. The bolt implanted itself in Darla's abdomen. "Close, but no heart." She took out the arrow and broke it in half.

Jackson, Oliver, Lilly, and Giles came to the railing on the top floor and saw what was going on.

"We have to distract Darla!" Jackson said.

"MILEY!" Lilly yelled, getting everyone's attention, "IT WASN'T ANGEL THAT ATTACKED YOUR MAMMA, IT WAS DARLA!" Darla turned to Lilly and shot at them. Lilly screamed as Jackson and Giles pulled her and Oliver away.

Before Darla could move back to Miley, Angel came up behind her and pierced her in the heart with the bolt that had hit the wall earlier.

"Angel?" Darla fell down and turned to dust.

Miley looked at Angel in shock and surprise. Angel simply dropped the bolt on the ground and left.

* * *

Collin came up to the Master. "Forget her."

"How can you say that? She was my favorite! For 400 years--"

"You don't need her. She was weak. I will bring you the Slayer. And I will lead her into Hell."

"But to lose her to Angel! He was to sit at my side one day."

"They're all against you. But soon you shall rise. And when you do…we'll kill them all."

* * *

"Ah, the post-fumigation party," said Oliver at the Bronze the next night.

"OK, what's the difference between this and the pre-fumigation party?" asked Miley.

"Much hardier cockroaches," Oliver answered.

"So, what happened with Dolly and Mamma?" asked Lilly.

"The album came out this morning," Miley explained, "we have a big party this afternoon, and then they both went back to Tennessee."

"And no word from Angel?" asked Lilly.

"No, but…" Miley smiled. "…it feels like he's still watching over me."

"Well, in a way, he is!" Lilly said, "I mean, in the sense that he's standing right over there."

(Demi Lovato's "Stop the World" plays)

Miley turned to see Angel. She smiled again, got up, and went over to him.

"I don't need to watch, 'cause I'm not being threatened," Oliver said, turning away. He peeked over his shoulder to see Miley going over to him.

_I don't know why, I don't know why_

_I'm so afraid (I'm so afraid)_

_I don't know how, I don't know how_

_To fix the pain (to fix the pain)_

_We're living a lie, living a lie_

_This needs to change_

_We're out of time, we're out of time_

_And it's still the same…_

"I wanted to see if you were OK," Angel told Miley, "And your grandmother."

"I'm fine," Miley said, "Mamma's on the way back to Tennessee. You?"

"If I can go a little while without getting shot or stabbed, I'll be fine." Miley smiled. "Look, this can't--"

"Ever be anything," Miley said, "I know. For one thing, you're…like 224 years older than me."

"I just…I just gotta walk away and--"

"Hey." Miley wrapped her arm around him. "Me, too. One of us has to go there. And it can't be me because I'm not good at saying stuff like that and I don't have time to write a song."

Angel smiled. "I know." They looked at each other for a few more moments and then gazed into each other's eyes and kissed passionately.

…_We can't stop the world_

_But there's so much more that we could do_

_You can't stop this girl_

_From falling more in love with you…_

"What's going on?" Oliver asked Lilly, not willing to spy anymore.

"Oh, nothing."

"Well, as long as they're not kissing." Lilly smiled to herself and sipped some of her drink.

…_But I'd stop the world_

_If it'd finally let us be alone_

_Let us be_

_I_

_Never wanna take_

_That final look…_

Angel finally parted from her.

"Are you OK?" Miley asked.

"Yeah, it just…"

Miley looked down and noticed that she was wearing the cross necklace he'd given her. "Hurts. I know." She looked at him one more time and then turned and walked off. "Bye."

…_We can't stop the world_

_But there's so much more that we could do_

_You can't stop this girl_

_From falling more in love with you_

Angel gazed at her. The only time in next 5 minutes where he looked away was when he looked down and saw the deep burn her necklace had left.

_You said, 'Nobody has to know_

_Give us to grow_

_And take it slow'_

_But I'd stop the world_

_If it'd finally let us be alone_

_Let us be alone_

_Let us be alone_

_Let us be alone_

**END EPISODE**


	8. I Robot, You Jane

Chapter 8: I Robot, You Jane

_Italy…_

_1418…_

A young Italian boy was by the window of a castle, kneeling before a big green demon.

"Carlo," the demon said in Italian, "do you love me? I can give you everything. All I want is your love."

"You have my love," Carlo answered in Italian.

The demon put his hand on Carlo's head…and twisted it, snapping his neck and killing him.

Meanwhile, in a church, a preacher was talking to his followers in Italian: "He's out. The devil, Moloch the Corrupter. More and more have fallen under his mesmerizing power. We must form the circle." The monks gathered in a circle and the preacher guy laid a blank book in the center. "By the power of the circle of Kayless…"

Moloch sensed what they were doing. "NO!"

"By the power of the circle of Kayless, I command you! Come!"

Moloch started screaming.

"COME!"

Moloch burst into thousands of pieces and the particles flew to the church.

"Demon, come!"

The pieces scattered themselves in the book, forming the words of it.

The preacher guy laid the book in a big wood box. "Pray that this accursed book is never read again, lest Moloch once more be released in the world."

_591 years later…_

"Oh, look, a book!" Miley exclaimed, sarcastically. She pulled the Moloch book out of the box and laid on the table. She blew the dust off it and dust went flying everywhere. She coughed.

"I haven't gone through the new arrivals yet," Giles said.

"I'll get it," said a boy, coming up and grabbing it.

"Thanks, Dave," Miley said, "The Lilly pile."

As Dave laid down the book in the pile next to Lilly, Giles started to go through some more of the books. "When I've examined the rest of these, you can, uh…skim them."

"Scan, Rupert," said the computer science teacher, coming up to him, "I know our ways are strange to you but soon you can join us in the 21st century."

"Ms. Calendar," Giles said, "I'm sure your computer science class is…fascinating but I believe that one can survive in the modern world without being a slave to the idiot box."

"The idiot box is TV!" Ms. Calendar snapped, "This is the good box."

"I still prefer a good book."

Another one of the computer boys, who was sitting at the table by a computer, stood up. "The printed page is obsolete. Information isn't bound up anymore. It's an entity! The only reality is virtual! And you, sir, are not alive!" He grabbed his books and left.

"Thank you, Fritz, for making us all sound like crazy people!" Ms. Calendar called after him. She turned back to Giles. "Fritz can come on a little strong. But he does have a good point. Over the last decade, more e-mail has been sent then regular mail. More information went through phone lines than regular conversation."

"That is a fact I regard with genuine horror," Giles said.

"I'll bet it is," Ms. Calendar said, "Good talking with you." She turned back to the students. "Alright, guys, let's wrap it up!"

Lilly looked at her book pile. "I think I have too many. I'll hang around for a while."

"Thanks, Lilly," Ms. Calendar said.

Oliver grabbed his jacket and got up to leave.

"Aren't you gonna stay and help me?" Lilly asked him.

Oliver snickered. "Are you kidding?" He started laughing left.

"I appreciate the enthusiasm!" Lilly yelled after him, sarcastically.

"I'll just hang back with my books and go back to the Middle Ages," Giles said, mockingly.

"Did you ever leave?" Ms. Calendar mumbled as she left. Giles glanced back at her but just went ahead and left, not noticing her smile.

A few hours later, Lilly was still in the library, scanning happily through the books. She finally came to the Moloch book and scanned 2 of the pages. She didn't seem to notice that the words in the book were disappearing as she saved her work. She closed the book, put it with the others, grabbed her bag, and left.

After she was gone, the computer screen went blank and 3 simple words typed themselves up in green letters: "Where am I?"

* * *

"Lilly!" Miley ran up to Lilly in the hall of the school about a week later. "Lilly!" Lilly turned to look at her. "What was up last night? I tried your line a million times!"

"Oh, I was talking." Lilly started to walk off again.

Miley ran in front of her and stopped her. "You have a secret and that's not allowed."

"Oh, really, Miss Montana the Vampire Slayer?" Lilly whispered back.

"Very funny."

"Look, I met someone."

"Really? When did you meet?"

"Last week after the book scanning."

"Does he go here? What's his name? Have kissed him? What's he like?"

"No, Malcolm, no, and very nice."

Miley groaned. "You're a thing of evil for not telling me this right away."

"Well, I wasn't sure there was anything to tell but…we talked all last night and he's so smart and romantic and we agree about everything!"

"What's he look like?"

"I don't know!"

Miley stopped smiling and followed Lilly to the computer lab. "So you've been seeing a guy and you don't know what he looks like?"

"I met him online."

Ms. Calendar came into the room. "Morning, class." She then noticed Miley. "Ms. Stewart, aren't you supposed to be somewhere?"

"No, I have free period," Miley corrected.

"Oh!" Ms. Calendar smiled and sat down at her desk. "Well, this is lab time, so let's make this a short visit, OK?"

"Got it."

Lilly sat down and turned on the monitor of her computer. Before she could start getting ready for class, a window popped up saying "You have mail!" Lilly gasped. "It's him!" She hit a button and her e-mail opened up. There was a message saying "I'm thinking of you." Lilly smiled. "Isn't he romantic?"

"Yeah, adorable." Miley rolled her eyes while Lilly wasn't looking. "Look, I think it's great that you have a new pen pal and all, but don't you think you're kind of rushing into this? What exactly do you know about this guy?"

Lilly sighed and turned to look at Miley. "I knew you'd be upset about this."

Miley scoffed. "What? Upset? I'm not upset! I just wanna make sure you be careful, OK?" Lilly just half-smiled.

On the other side of the desk, on Fritz's computer, Miley's record showed up. Fritz looked confused for a little bit and then started to study the record. Suddenly, her record disappeared and a message appeared in its place: "Watch her."

"His name is Malcolm Black," Lilly was telling Miley, "He's 18. He lives in Elmwood, which is about 80 miles from here. And he likes me!"

"Hey, I'm just trying to make sure that he's good enough for you!" Miley complained about Lilly's complaining, "I think it's great that you met someone."

Ms. Calendar suddenly looked up from her work. "Hey, Fritz." Fritz turned to her. "I'm looking at the logs and you and Dave are clocking in a pretty scary amount of computer time."

"New project," Fritz stated as soon as she was done talking.

"Ooh, will I be impressed?"

"You'll die."

* * *

Oliver ran up to Lilly in the quad. "Hey, Lil!" Lilly stopped walking as he came up to her. "Just thought I'd check to see if we're going to the Bronze tonight."

"Not me, I'm busy."

"Ooh, Malcolm, right?" Lilly looked at him, stunned. "Yep, I heard. But you're gonna be missing out. Jackson's coming, too. And I'm planning to be witty. I'm gonna make fun of all the people who won't talk to me!"

"Wow, that sounds like fun! Have a good time!" Lilly ran off, leaving Oliver, who wasn't smiling anymore, behind.

Miley came up to Oliver, who was pretty much frozen in place. "I take it she's not coming?" Oliver just stood there, still petrified. "Oliver?" Still no response. She groaned, put down her bag, and kicked him in the back as she yelled "OLIVER!"

Oliver fell to the ground and then came back up. "Oh, hey, Miley, when did you get there?" He got up.

"Check out the jealous man."

"I'm not jealous."

"Oh, come on. Lilly's got a thing and her best friend is left hanging."

"Hey, I'm not…interested in her like…well, like that. But this Malcolm guy? What's his deal?"

"I get your point. I mean, not knowing what he looks like-"

"Or who he really is. I mean, he says he's a high school student, but I could say I'm a high school student!"

"That's because you are!"

"Well, yeah, but who's to say if I'm in an elderly Dutch chat room?"

Miley smiled. "I see your point." She stopped smiling. "I see your point. This guy could be anybody! HE COULD BE A CIRCUS FREAK!"

"Whoa, Miley, calm down!"

"Oh, great, you got me started! See what happens when you get me started?"

"It's fun, isn't it?"

* * *

Lilly rushed into the girls' locker room.

"Whoa!" Miley said, "Check out the late girl."

"I slept in," Lilly said.

"Until 5th period? Talking to Malcolm last night?"

"Yeah," Lilly said, smiling. She then noticed Miley's look. "You're having an expression."

"What? No!" Miley turned around and started to open her locker and then whipped around again. "But if I were, it'd be saying 'This isn't like you.'"

"I don't understand why you don't want to have this. Boys don't chase me around all the time. I thought you'd be happy for me!"

"I just want you to be safe. To meet him face-to-face…in daylight…in a crowded place…with some friends…you know, before you become all obsessive!"

"Look, Malcolm and I really care about each other. Big deal if I blow a few classes."

"I thought you'd overslept."

Lilly then realized what she'd said and then sighed. "Malcolm knew you wouldn't understand." She walked off, leaving Miley standing there, open-mouthed.

* * *

Miley snuck into the computer lab and went over to Dave. "Dave," she whispered in his ear. No reaction. "Hello?" She clapped her hands together by his ear and he jumped in his seat.

"Oh, Miley, hi."

"I wanted to ask a computer question. If I wanted to find out about someone, like if they sent me an e-mail, could I possibly find out who the person is?"

"Well, you could pull up their profile based on their username-"

"But they write the profile themselves. They could say anything they wanted."

"True."

"Wow, I had knowledge! So is there any way to find out exactly where an e-mail came from?"

"That's a challenge, but it's possible."

"Good, 'cause Lilly has this 'boyfriend' and I just wanted to be sure that-"

"Leave Lilly alone!"

"Huh?"

"It's none of your business!"

Miley's eyes widened at his insistence. "Dave, are _you_ Malcolm?"

"Of course not."

Miley put her hands on her hips. "What is going on?"

"Look, I'll talk to you later, OK? I have work to do."

Miley sighed as he returned to the computer. "So do I." She walked off, not noticing Fritz looking at her as she walked off.

* * *

Miley was on the stairs in the library. "I'm telling you, Giles, something's going on! Not just Lilly but Dave and Fritz. They're all jumpy!"

"Those boys are not sparklingly normal as is," Giles said from inside the cage.

"GILES!"

"Miley, things involving computers fill me with childlike terror! Now if it were an ogre or a troll or something, I'd be involved. I suppose you could follow one of the boys and-"

"Follow Dave?"

"I didn't specify but-"

"Done."

* * *

Dave was walking down a street. Miley snuck through the shadows (which wasn't easy in the shoes she was wearing) behind him. When Dave thought he was sensed a presence, he turned around. There was no one there. He shrugged and turned back around. As soon as he was gone, Miley emerged from a nearby dumpster. She couldn't believe she'd just jumped in there. She completely forgot, though, when she noticed Dave go into a building with a logo on the wall: "CRD."

But she was unaware that there was a security camera watching her and that Fritz was tapped into it in the computer lab at the school. "What do I do?" The computer changed to a simple message: "Kill her." Fritz smiled. "Gladly."

* * *

"What was the name of this place?" Giles asked Miley in the library later.

"CRD," Miley answered, sitting at the table with Oliver on her right and Jackson to her left, "But I couldn't get close enough to see what that stands for."

"Calax Research and Development," Oliver answered, "It's a computer research lab. 3rd largest employer in Malibu until it closed down last year." Miley and Giles both stared at him. "What, I can't have information sometimes?"

"It is somewhat unprecedented…" Giles said.

"Well, my uncle used to work there…as a…floor-sweeper."

"But it closed?" Miley asked. Oliver nodded. "Looked pretty functional from where I was standing."

"Then what do they need this Dave guy for?" asked Jackson.

"Probably something with the computers," Miley said, shrugging, "He is off-the-chart smart."

"Well, we still don't know a lot," Oliver said, "But if CRD were reopened, it would have been on the news."

"I can just tell something's wrong," said Miley, "My spider sense is tingling."

"Your…spider sense?" Giles asked.

"Pop culture reference, sorry."

Jackson thought of something. "Hey, maybe we can break in! I'm free tonight!"

"OK then," said Miley.

"A moment, please, of quiet reflection," Giles said, "I do not suggest that you illegally enter the…" He trailed off when he saw Ms. Calendar coming into the library. "…data into the computer so that the book will be listed by title as well as author. Is there something I can help you with, Ms. Calendar?"

"I was just coming by to check on the database, make sure everything your cross reference table isn't glitching. 'Cause I'm guessing you haven't gone anywhere near it." She noticed Jackson. "And who are you?"

"Jackson Stewart, Miley's older brother, to Malibu U in the fall."

"Huh, nice to meet you. Anyway…" Jackson stopped smiling. "…I'm surprised you kids are here again. You must love to read."

"Well, we're literary!" Miley said.

"To read makes our speaking English good," said Oliver.

"And now we're leaving!" Miley grabbed the boys' ears and dragged them out. "'It makes our speaking English good'?" she hissed in Oliver's pinched ear.

"I panicked, OK?"

* * *

Lilly was alone in the computer lab in a private chat room:

Malcolm: I've never felt this way about anyone before.

Lilly: I know what you mean. I feel like you know me better than anyone. Do you think we should meet?

Malcolm: I think we should soon.

Lilly: I'm kind of nervous.

Malcolm: I'm not. Isn't that strange?

Lilly: See, this is what Miley doesn't get, how comfortable you can make me feel.

Malcolm: Miley just makes trouble. That's why she got kicked out of her old school.

Lilly stopped smiling.

Lilly: How'd you know she got kicked out?

Malcolm: You must have mentioned it.

Lilly was pondering to herself. "No, I didn't. I'd never tell anyone that."

Lilly: I'll talk to you later. I have to sign off.

Malcolm: Don't.

Lilly was still shocked.

Lilly: Bye.

Before he could respond, she closed the chat room and turned off the computer. She got up and grabbed her bag, but couldn't help glancing back at that computer as she walked out.

* * *

"You're a snob!" Ms. Calendar said, "You think that knowledge should be kept in these carefully guarded repositories where only a handful of people can get it!"

"That's nonsense!" Giles retorted, "I just don't think that just because something is new, it's better!"

"This isn't a fad, Rupert! It's been going on for a decade! It's a new society!"

"A society in which human interaction is all but obsolete? In which people can be completely manipulated by technology? No, thank you, I'll pass."

Ms. Calendar scoffed. "Then I hope you're very happy with your musty old books!" She opened the Moloch book.

"These 'musty old books' have more to say than any of your 'fabulous' web pages."

"This one doesn't have much to say. It's empty."

Giles went over and looked at it. Sure enough, the pages were all blank. "That's odd. I haven't looked through all the books yet, I-"

"Was it is, like a diary?"

"Um, yes, a diary. I imagine that's exactly what it is. It was arguing with you."

Ms. Calendar looked at him strangely. "OK, argue with you later." She walked off.

* * *

Meanwhile, Miley was walking through the girls' locker room looking for Lilly. "Lilly? Lil?" She heard water running. "Are you taking a shower or something?" She went to the shower. One of them was running but there was no one there. "I guess not." She went to turn off the water. "This is how droughts get started."

"Miley! Look out!"

Miley whirled around to see an electrical cord caught in the water and jumped out of the way before she could get electrocuted. She turned around to see who had called her and was just in time to watch Dave running off.

* * *

Dave was in the computer lab, pacing back and forth in front of one of the computers. "I can't do this! Miley isn't a threat to you!"

"The project is almost over, Dave," said the computer (weird, huh?), "You won't have to do it again. I've shown you a new world, Dave, knowledge, power…I can give you everything. All I want is your love."

"Well, you can't have it! It's not right!"

Then, a sketch pad appeared on the computer and a note started to type itself up: "I'm sorry. I've been a terrible person. I'm a coward and I can't go on living like this. Forgive me, Mom and Dad. At least now I'll have some peace. Remember me. Love, Dave."

Dave backed into the table. "No…" He then noticed Fritz was in the room, closing and locking the door to the hall.

* * *

"I'm gonna kill Dave!" Oliver said, pacing in front of Miley and Jackson, who were sitting next to each other at the table in the library, "Are you sure you're gonna be OK?"

"My Slayer speed kept me from being shocked, Oliver," Miley said, "Now tell me the truth…how's my hair?"

Jackson realized the danger of that question immediately. "Great! It's your best hair ever!"

Miley smiled for a second. "I just don't understand why Dave would do something like this."

"I think I do," Giles said. He showed them the Moloch book. "Does this look familiar to you?"

"Yeah, it looks like a book," Oliver said.

"I knew that one!" Jackson said.

"Of course, you did," Miley said.

"In the Dark Ages, the souls of demons were trapped in certain books," Giles explained, "They remained locked inside until the pages were read aloud. Unless I'm mistaken, this one is Moloch the Corrupter, a very deadly and seductive demon. He draws people to him with promises of love, power, and knowledge and preys on unimpressionable minds, like Dave and Fritz and Lilly and who knows how many others."

"And Moloch is inside that book?" Jackson asked.

"Not anymore," Giles said, showing them the empty pages.

"You released Moloch?" Miley asked, shocked.

"Way to go!" Oliver said, both angrily and sarcastically.

"I didn't read it! That dreadful Calendar woman found it and it was already blank!"

"OK, so a powerful demon with horns is walking around and nobody's noticed?" Miley asked, "And if he's so big and strong, why bother with Dave instead of trying to kill me himself?"

"I don't know," Giles answered, "And I don't know who could have read that book, it wasn't in English."

"Where was it?" asked Miley.

"In a pile with the others that were…" He realized what was going on. "…scanned!"

All 4 of them crowded around a computer.

"And that released the demon into the internet!" Jackson said, panicking.

"What do we do?" asked Oliver.

Miley thought for a few seconds and then snapped her fingers. "Lilly scanned them into her file! We can just delete it!" She sat down and opened the file…but when she moved it to the trash bin, Moloch's face appeared on the screen instead of the standard message box.

"Leave Lilly alone!" Moloch screeched before disappearing.

"Well, now we know what Malcolm looks like," said Oliver.

"So much for delete file," Miley said.

"Hey, aren't we overreacting?" asked Jackson, not so panicky now, "I mean, so he's connected to every computer in the world, what can he do?"

"Besides convince a perfectly nice kid to try and kill me?" asked Miley, "How about mess up all the medical equipment…"

"Randomize traffic signals…" Giles added.

"Access launch codes for nuclear missiles…"

"Destroy the world's economy…more…"

"OK, I think I kind of topped it with the missile thing," Miley said.

"OK, he's a threat!" Oliver said, "What can we do about it?"

"I think our first priority is to find Lilly," Miley said, "and find out what he wants with her. I'll check the computer lab, you guys call her house." She left. She came into the computer lab and looked around the dark room. "Lilly?" Suddenly, Dave's hanging body came down. She screamed upon realizing he was dead.

* * *

Jackson hung up the phone. "No answer. But it wasn't busy, so she's not online."

Miley came into the library.

"She's not home," said Oliver.

"What'd you find?" asked Jackson.

"Dave," Miley said, "He's dead." The guys were all shocked. "Fritz probably hung him." She went over to Oliver. "You and Jackson and I are checking Lilly's house." She turned to Giles. "You need to stay here and find a way to get our demon back in that book. Talk to Ms. Calendar if you have to." Giles started to speak up. "No excuses, just do it!" She turned back to her brother and guy friend. "Let's go."

* * *

Lilly came into her house. It was empty. "Mom? Hello?" She walked into her room and placed her bag on her bed. Suddenly, her computer flashed on. She went over there and turned it on to reveal an e-mail: "No more waiting, I need you to see me." Lilly pretty much gasped but quickly deleted the message and turned off the monitor. 2 seconds later, the same results. Suddenly, she heard something. She went downstairs to see the doorknob rattling. She groaned. "Mom, did you forget your keys again?" She went over and opened the door.

Fritz came out and punched her in the face, knocking her out. "No more waiting."

* * *

Giles was flipping through a book. "Binding rituals…"

Ms. Calendar came up. "Hey." Giles turned to face her. "I got your message. What's so urgent?"

"Uh, thanks for coming…I-I need your help on something…now you need to believe me on something that…you may not want to…" He finally cut to the chase. "There's a demon in the internet."

"I know."

* * *

"Lilly?" Miley led Oliver and Jackson up to her best friend's house and found the door open. "That's not good." She walked in and ran to Lilly's room to find the same message on the computer. "'No more waiting, I need you to see me'?"

"That's not good," Jackson said.

"You think?" Miley turned back to face the guys. "See him how? Where?"

"What about CRD?" asked Oliver, "I'm guessing that's Moloch central."

"It's our best lead," Miley said, "Let's just hope Giles can back us up."

* * *

"You already know?" Giles asked Ms. Calendar, "How is that?"

"There have been signs for days," Ms. Calendar explained, "Power surges, online shutdowns…I knew something like this would happen sooner or later. It's probably a mischief demon or-"

"Moloch."

Ms. Calendar was frightened. "The Corrupter?"

Giles nodded. "You don't seem particularly surprised by this. Who are you? Teaching computer science hardly leads to-"

"You think the realm of the mystics is limited to ancient texts and relics? The divine exists in cyberspace as well as out here. I'm a techno-pagan. There are more of us than you think."

"Well, you can definitely help." Giles went over to a computer. "What's in cyberspace now is much less than divine. I have binding rituals at hand, but-"

"Well, I can help…I think…I hope…this is my first real…Do you know how he got in?"

"When the book was scanned, he was released into the internet."

"And you want him back in the book."

The phone rang.

"Miley!" Giles ran to answer. "Miley?"

"It's me," Miley said, walking down a street and carrying her cell phone, "Lilly wasn't at home. It looked like she was taken and we're headed to CRD. Whatever Moloch wants Lilly for is probably in there."

"Well, Ms. Calendar and I are working on a way to get Moloch offline."

"Here's a tip: hurry!" She hung up.

* * *

Lilly woke up in a lab in the CRD building. She looked around. It was dark, but she could clearly see Fritz and a technician standing there.

"Welcome, my love." Lilly looked around to see where the voice had come from. "I can't tell you how good it is to see you…" A green robot with horns appeared. "…with my own 2 eyes."

Lilly stood up. "Malcolm." Before she could go any further, Fritz and the technician took her arms and restricted her movement.

"The world is so new and exciting," said Moloch as he slowly started to walk closer, "Everything flows through me. I even know the secrets of your kings. But nothing compares to having form again…to walk…" He touched Fritz's head. "…to touch…" He snapped Fritz's neck. "…to kill." Fritz's dead body dropped to the ground. Moloch suddenly looked up. "They're coming."

Sure enough, Miley was helping Oliver and Jackson over the fence. She jumped once she reached the top and landed on the other side on her feet. Oliver jumped into the dumpster Miley had been in the day before and came out gently. Jackson jumped…and practically broke his leg. Miley helped him up and the 3 of them made their way to the rear entrance, Jackson limping all the while.

* * *

While all this was going on, Giles lit a candle in the library.

"OK, the first thing we need to do is form the Circle of Kayless," Ms. Calendar reasoned.

"But there's only 2 of us," Giles corrected, "That'd be more of a line."

"True, but we have to form a circle inside." Ms. Calendar sat down at the nearest computer. "Let's hope enough of my group responds."

"Won't Moloch just shut you down?"

"I'm betting he won't figure out what we're doing until we're too late."

"Hoping and betting, that's all we've got now."

"Wanna throw in praying? Be my guest."

* * *

"What do you want from me?" asked Lilly, struggling against the technician's grip.

"I want to give you the world," Moloch explained, "You created me, gave me life. I brought these humans together to build me, but _you_ took me out of the book that held me. I want to repay you."

"By lying to me? By pretending to be a person? Pretending you loved me?"

"I do! Don't you see? I can give you everything! Right now, a guy in Beijing is transferring money from a Swiss account on a contract for his mother's life. Good for him!"

Miley came up to the door to the lab. "I can't bust it, it's heavy steel!"

"We'll have to find another way in," said Oliver. But just as he was headed down the hall to the next door, all of the doors shut themselves. "What's going on?"

Miley spotted a security camera. "The building security is computerized!"

Oliver looked up at the camera. "Whoops."

* * *

"Almost there," said Ms. Calendar.

"Couldn't you just stop Moloch by…sending out some computer virus?" Giles asked.

"You have seen way too many movies. OK, we're in! You read, I type. Ready?"

Giles nodded and began to translate the book. "'By the power of the divine, by the essence of the word, I command you…'"

* * *

"Let me go!" Lilly demanded.

"But I love you," Moloch debated.

"If you loved me, you'd let me go! You don't love anything!"

"You are mine!"

"I'm not yours! I'm never gonna be yours! Never, ever, EVER!"

Moloch looked at her for a few seconds. "Pity."

* * *

"'By the power of the Circle of Kayless, I command you…' That's Kayless with a K."

* * *

Moloch reached out and put his hand on Lilly's head. "I'll miss you."

"Eep!"

* * *

"'Demon, come!'"

* * *

Moloch stepped back, screaming and writhing, and put his hands on his head.

* * *

"'I command you!'"

* * *

Miley, Oliver, and Jackson were all together in front of the door. "1…2…3!" They all busted the door down. Miley saw Moloch and ran up to him. As soon as she was close enough, she kicked him and…

"OW! Guy's made of metal!"

Oliver ran up to help her, but the technician grabbed him. He kicked the guy in the face and he let go of him and Lilly. "Hey, I got to hit someone!"

"No!" Moloch screamed, "I won't go back!"

* * *

"Demon, COME!"

Suddenly, the monitor flickered. They could both hear Moloch's final scream and then everything was back to normal.

"He's out of the 'net," said Ms. Calendar, "He's bound."

Giles picked up the book. "No, he's not. He's not in the book."

* * *

Miley and Lilly locked the doors and started to run with the guys down the hall to open the next door. But before they could, Moloch burst through the wall. He went up and knocked Oliver out. Miley kicked him, but he was still metallic and hard to break. Jackson wasn't much help, because he was still limping.

"I was omnipotent!" Moloch screamed, "I was everything! And now I'm trapped in this shell!" Suddenly, he hunched over slightly to reveal Lilly behind him with a fire extinguisher.

"Hey, Malcolm!" Lilly hit him again. "Remember me, your girlfriend?" Another hit. "I think it's time we break up!" Hit. "But maybe we can still be friends!" She swung to hit him, but he grabbed the extinguisher before she could and used it to push her down the hall and into a wall (no rhyme intended) before crunching it into itty-bitty pieces of metal.

"This body is all I have left, but it's enough to crush you!"

Miley noticed a fuse box behind her and then turned back to Moloch. "Take your best shot." He moved to punch her and she got out of the way just soon enough to make him punch it instead, making him short out. "Buh-bye, metal-head."

* * *

Ms. Calendar was alone in the computer lab the next morning when Giles came in. "Hey, look who's here. Welcome to my world. You scared?"

"I'm remaining calm, thank you. I just wanted to thank you for your help so…bye." He turned to leave.

"You just can't get out of here fast enough, can you?"

Giles turned back to face her. "Truthfully, I'm even less eager to be around computers than I used to be."

"Well, it was your book that started the trouble in the first place. Honestly, what is it about computers that bothers you so much?"

"It's the smell."

"Computers don't smell, Rupert."

"Exactly! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...long forgotten. Books smell. Musty and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer is...it has no texture, no context. It's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then the getting of knowledge should be tangible it should be, um...smelly."

"Wow, you're a really old-fashioned boy." She smiled.

Giles copied the action and left.

* * *

While Giles was with Ms. Calendar, Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were sitting by the fountain outside.

"So, we're going to the Bronze tonight?" asked Lilly, "All 4 of us?"

"It'll be fun!" Miley said.

"Yeah, remember, Lilly, fun?" Oliver asked, "That thing where you smile?" Lilly smiled. "See?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about…"

"Malcolm?" asked Miley.

"Malcolm, Moloch, whoever he was," said Lilly, "'The one boy that really likes me is a demon robot.' Do you know how that makes me feel?"

"Hey, remember the one guy I really liked since we moved here?" Miley pointed out, "Turned out to be a Vampire?"

"Yeah, and the teacher I liked?" Oliver added, "Giant praying mantis?"

"Face it," Miley said, "None of us are ever going to have a normal relationship."

"Exactly, we're doomed!" Oliver said.

All 3 of them smiled and then slowly realized their dramatic situation.

**END EPISODE**


	9. Puppet Show

Chapter 9: Puppet Show

" _By day, I play, the part in every way,_" Ashley sang (more like screeched, actually) on the stage in the auditorium, "_of simple, sweet, calm, and collected…_"

Giles was watching, wide-eyed and hardly blinking, from one of the seats. He SO did not want to be there.

"…_pretend to my friends, I'm a chameleon, can make a girl feel disconnect_-"

"Thank you, Ashley!" Giles said, stopping her, "That's going to be great!"

"But I didn't do the part with the sparklers!"

"We'll save that for the dress rehearsal. LISA!"

Ashley groaned and left the stage. Lisa then came onto the stage with her tuba.

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver came up.

"Well, if it isn't the great producer!" Miley said. She sat right next to Giles and Lilly and Oliver sat behind them. "The school talent show. How'd you finagle this one?"

"Our new Furher, Snyder, assigned me to it," Giles explained.

"You know, we call those principals now," said Lilly.

"He thought it would convince me to have more contact with the students. I did try to explain that my place as librarian was meant to limit such contact, but he would have none of it."

"Giles," Miley objected, as Lisa's solo act went on, "unto every generation there is born one who must run the annual talent-less show. You cannot escape your destiny."

"You know, you kids might have helped by participating, or at least helping somehow!"

"Nah," Miley said, "I think we'll take on your traditional role…and watch!"

"And mock!" Oliver added.

"And laugh!" Lilly added. All 3 of them laughed.

"You know, maybe we should just leave Mr. Giles to this train-wreck he calls a show," suggested Miley. She got up and ran into someone first. "Principal Snyder!"

"So," said Snyder, "You think school events are stupid and that authority figures are to be made fun of."

"What? No! No! We don't! U-Unless you do?"

"And we think our afternoon classes are optional?" Snyder asked, "All 3 of you left campus yesterday."

"Hey, we were fighting a d-" Oliver and Miley both covered Lilly's mouth before she could give them away.

"You anti-social types really need to integrate to this school," Snyder stated. He crossed his arms at them. "I think I just found 3 eager new participants for the talent show."

"What?" asked Miley.

"No!" Oliver objected.

"Please?" Lilly pleaded.

"Look, my predecessor, Mr. Flutie, may have gone in with all that touchy-feely relating nonsense…but he was eaten. You're in my world now." With that, Snyder walked off.

"Can I just say that detention is still an honored form of punishment?" asked Oliver. He and the girls sat back down in their seats.

"Thank you!" Giles told Lisa once she was down.

Then came a boy and a dummy.

Miley shivered. "I hate dummies. They've creeped me out since I was little."

"Really?" Lilly asked, "What happened?"

"I saw a dummy and it creeped me out. There's really no story there."

"Hi, I'm Morgan," said the boy. He started to move the dummy's head. "_And I'm Sid._" He was an awful ventriloquist. "_Hey, Morgan, would you like to tell some jokes?_ Would I! _As a matter of fact, it is! It's also a wood nose and wood mouth!_" Here, Giles started to clean his glasses. Take note of that. "_I didn't sleep at all last night_-"

"Whoa, whoa, time out!" The dummy started to speak for himself. "Let's stop before someone gets hurt. Kid, you are the worst. Even I can see your lips move." Miley started giggling and Giles put his glasses back on.

"Come on, Sid," Morgan argued with the dummy, "You're spoiling my act. I've been working on these jokes for weeks!"

"You call those jokes? My jockey shorts are made out of better material!" Some of the other students started to laugh. "And they're edible!" More laughs.

"There, you see?" Giles told the girls and Oliver, "I'm sure you 3 can come up with something equally exciting."

* * *

Later, something was walking through the girls' locker room. "I will be whole…"

A girl, the only one in there at the time, whipped around, but didn't see anything. "Hello? Is anyone there?" No response. She shrugged and closed her locker.

"I will be new…"

The girl turned around again and screamed when she saw the demon coming after her.

"I will be flesh!"

* * *

A magician was now on the stage. "And I reach into the hat and pull out…" He felt around the hat. It was empty. "Has anyone seen a rabbit?"

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver were sitting at the edge of the stage.

Miley turned away from the train-wreck and went back to her friends. "Oliver, come on."

"No!" Oliver objected, "I have my pride. Granted, I don't have a lot of it, but I know I can't do this!"

"Hey, a scene from a play is the easiest way to get through a talent show," said Lilly, "It doesn't require any actual talent!"

"But we have talent," said Oliver, "We can do stuff."

"I can't sing," said Miley, "If I sing one of my Hannah songs, people might recognize my voice and know something's up. What else can I do? Slay Vampires on stage?"

"Maybe in a funny way!" Lilly suggested.

"Lilly, you have piano," Oliver said. Lilly shot him a look.

"You play?" asked Miley.

"A little."

"That's perfect! You can play and Oliver and I can attempt to sing to that."

"Oh, you mean in front of people? N-No, I don't play."

Suddenly, Sid, who Morgan was getting ready to put into a case, whistled at the girls. "Mm, look at the goodies!"

"Morgan, you're really getting good!" Lilly commented, "How'd you get the voice?"

"It's…kind of an imitation of my dad," said Morgan.

"It sounds really…real!" Miley added.

"It is real!" said the dummy, "I'm the one with the talent here." He turned to Lilly. "Hey, after this, why don't we do a little rehearsing of our own?"

"Hey!" Oliver defended Lilly, putting his arm around her.

"OK, Morgan, we get the point!" Miley said, "Dummy dummy, ha ha, so funny. Give it up or your little friend is wood for a campfire!" Morgan and Sid looked at each other.

Just then, Amber came rushing in and came up to Ashley. "Ash!"

"What is it now?" asked Ashley, annoyed, "I'm rehearsing!"

"Look, something's going on."

* * *

Everyone collected in the hall outside the locker room.

Giles came up to Miley, Lilly, and Oliver. "It was Emily."

"Dancer Emily?" Lilly asked.

"Man, I hate this school," Oliver said.

"What happened?" Lilly asked.

"Her heart was removed."

"Ew!"

"What do you think did it?" asked Miley.

"Well, there are demons who feed off human hearts, but-" Giles moved to show the kids the knife being put in an evidence bag.

"But demons have big claws and would have no use for a big knife," said Oliver, "Did I mention how much I _hate_ this school?"

"Knife or no knife," Miley said, "We're on the Hell-Mouth. And this, to me, just screams demon!"

"Demon of not, we have investigation to do," said Giles, "We need to talk to the people who have seen her last."

* * *

Miley was interviewing Lisa in the band room.

"I didn't know her well," said Lisa, "There's that whole dancer-band rivalry, you know. But I did talk to her the day that…yesterday."

"How'd she seem?" asked Miley.

* * *

"She was happy," Marc the magician told Giles as he shuffled a deck of cards, "She was psyched to be doing the show and she was a really good dancer." He stopped shuffling. "Pick a card." Giles reached for one. "No, no, not that one. Pick this one." Giles took the one he was pointing at. "She was talking to someone the last time I saw her."

"Who?"

* * *

"That smart guy," a boy told Lilly in a classroom, "The one with the dummy, uh…Morgan! He was acting kind of strange."

* * *

"It's just such a tragedy for me!" Ashley told Oliver at cheerleading practice as Amber cheered on nearby, "Emma was like my best friend."

"Emily," Oliver corrected.

* * *

"Morgan's just strange," Lisa explained, "He was rubbing his head a lot and moaning and…"

* * *

"He was kind of paranoid," Marc said, "He was looking around at everyone…"

* * *

"And he was arguing," said Lilly's "specimen," "with his dummy."

* * *

"I just can't help thinking it could have been me!" Ashley ranted.

"We can dream," Oliver said, walking away.

* * *

Miley came into the auditorium and saw Sid sitting on a stool on the stage.

"Right now," Sid said, "you and me gotta be on the lookout and figure out who's gonna be next."

Morgan came on stage. "How are we supposed to…" He then noticed Miley looking at him funny. "Hey."

"Hi," Miley said.

"I-I was just working on throwing my voice," Morgan said, picking up Sid.

Miley started to walk towards him. "Morgan, have you noticed anything…weird going lately? I mean, did you see Emily arguing with anybody…before _it_ happened?"

"No, she was just dancing," Morgan said, coming over to the seats to put Sid in his case, "Sid and I were talk—er, rehearsing." Before he could say anymore, he doubled over in pain and disappeared in front of the seats.

"Morgan?" Miley asked, concerned.

Sid looked over the seats. "Look, sweetheart, he answered your question, now leave him alone!"

"OK, Morgan, very funny," Miley said, "Mind talking to me now?"

Morgan got up, his pain subsided. "That's it, Sid, we're done." He grabbed the puppet and stuffed him in his case.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad," said Miley.

"No, it's not you, it's him!" Morgan said, "He's…" He sighed and picked up the case. "We have to go." He left.

"Cute couple," Miley said under her breath before leaving.

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver came into the library later.

"OK, next time we split up, someone else is on Amber/Ashley watch," said Oliver.

"I think I had a bit more luck," said Lilly, "Everyone I talked to seemed to point their finger at the same person. Morgan."

Giles came up to them. "I fear I was led to the same conclusion."

"So what do we do?" asked Oliver.

"Oh, we could set up a complex sting operation!" Lilly suggested.

"Oh, I should wear a wire!" Oliver added.

"Whoa, guys!" Miley practically yelled, "All we know is that Morgan is a grade A weirdo. That doesn't directly lead to murder."

"The guy talks to his puppet!" Oliver retorted.

"And for his puppet!" Lilly added.

"What happened to the whole 'it's a demon' theory?" asked Miley.

"Will everybody just calm down a minute?" asked Giles, "Now, look…Miley, you watch Morgan. Check his locker, too."

"I'll pull up his locker combination," Lilly said, going over to the computer.

"Can I still wear a wire?" asked Oliver.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Miley came up to Morgan's locker. She looked around to make sure no one was there and then began to "crack the safe." "OK, 2 to the left…3 to the right…" She sighed. "Forget this." She punched a whole in the locker and started to open it when…

"Ahem!"

"Principal Snyder!" Miley spun around.

"What are you doing?" asked Snyder.

"Uh, looking for something," Miley quickly answered.

"School hours are over, Ms. Stewart, and, therefore, you should be gone."

"Well, uh…a friend asked me to get something from his locker." Miley opened the locker and noticed that nothing was in there. It was just a bunch of books and stuff like that. She closed the door. "He must have taken it and…forgotten to tell me." She left, not noticing Morgan and Sid watching from a nearby classroom.

* * *

"No, I can't do it!" Morgan said, pacing back and forth on the stage.

"It's the only way," Sid said, sitting on his stool, "You say what she did, how strong she is. She's the one. Just this one more and I'll be free."

"I won't," Morgan argued.

"But _I_ will!"

* * *

Just as Miley was getting into bed, her dad walked into her room. "Hey, bud."

"Hey, Dad," Miley said.

"So how are things going with the talent show?"

"It'll all be over soon."

"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad! I, for one, am looking forward to seeing your act."

"'Seeing'? As in the sense of actually attending?" Robbie nodded. "N-No, you can't."

"But I wanna support what you're doing! You know how I've always been there for Hannah Montana!"

"You mean the past 3 months? Dad, if you really love me and wanna show your support, you'll stay far, far away!"

"OK, OK! Just get some sleep, you'll feel better in the morning." With that, he left.

Miley pulled up the covers and got ready to sleep. Suddenly, she heard footsteps. She got up and looked around and something jumped at her. She turned on the light, saw that it was Sid, screamed, and knocked him off the bed. As soon as she'd accomplished that, she scrambled out of the bed and ran out of the room, bumping into her dad and brother.

"Whoa, calm down, bud!" Robbie said, "What happened?"

"T-There's something in my room!"

Jackson understood the situation immediately (not entirely, but he knew it was something supernatural). Robbie, however, assumed she'd had a bad dream.

Calmly, Robbie walked into the room and removed the covers from Miley's bed. Nothing. He turned on the big light and looked around. "There's nothing in here." He turned off the light. "Are you sure you weren't having a nightmare?"

"No! I-"

"Relax, I was dreaming I was Billy Ray Cyrus." With that, her dad left the room.

Jackson turned to his sister. "Here's a tip: Nightmare or monster, I would advise that in the future, you don't go to sleep with the window open!"

Miley looked at her personal doorway to the top deck. It was open. "Jackson, I…I didn't."

* * *

"And my lovely assistant steps into the box…" Marc said. His assistant walked into the box and he closed it. "And…presto!" He opened the box…and she was still there. "You were supposed to leave!"

Giles walked over to the kids. He noticed Miley's strange behavior immediately. "Are you OK?"

"Where's Morgan?" Miley asked, ignoring Giles' question.

"I haven't seen him," Giles answered.

"Did he do something to you?" asked Oliver.

"No, it was…Sid, his dummy. He was in my room last night. Alone. And alive. He ran across my floor, under my bed, and then attacked me. And then when my dad came in and turned the lights on, he was gone."

"Not to…insult you or anything," Giles said, "but maybe you were simply having a nightmare because you had dummies on your mind."

"You did say they creep you out," said Lilly, "And on the side of the 'Morgan's just crazy' theory, there is…well, Morgan."

"You know," Miley said, "I'd like to see Morgan without his better half for a few minutes. Bet we'd get a few answers then."

"If it's any consolation," Giles said, "I did find something about a brotherhood of 7 demons who can take the form of young humans. Every 7 years, they need to harvest human organs, a brain and a heart, to maintain there human form. Otherwise, they revert back to their normal form, which is…slightly less appealing."

"So Morgan could still be the guy," said Lilly, "Except, he'd be demon Morgan instead of crazy Morgan."

"I don't know about that," Giles corrected, "It's said that these demons are preternaturally strong. And it seems that Morgan is getting weaker every day."

* * *

Miley was in history class.

"Now," said the teacher, "who can tell me how Spain responded to the Monroe doctrine?" Sid was whispering to Morgan and the teacher took note of this. "Morgan?" Morgan looked up at her.

"Morgan has other things on his mind," Sid intercepted.

"That's it, give me the puppet." The teacher walked over to him.

"I'll put him away." Morgan started to get the case, but the teacher took Sid first.

"You'll get him back after school." She put him in a cupboard. "Now, in the first part of the 19th century…"

"I'm still watching you," said the dummy from inside the cupboard.

"Morgan, that's enough!" the teacher scolded.

But Miley noticed that Morgan had been just as shocked at the dummy's statement as the teacher had.

_After school…_

Morgan came back into the classroom. "Mrs. Jackson." The teacher looked at him. "You'd said that…"

"Oh." Mrs. Jackson walked over to the cupboard…but didn't open it. "You know, I wanted to ask you if everything was OK."

"I'm fine, I just…"

"Because you're such a bright student, but lately it doesn't seem you're all there. I mean-"

"Can I just get my puppet back?"

"OK, fine!" Mrs. Jackson opened the cupboard…but it was empty. "That's weird."

Morgan noticed the empty cupboard. "He knew to wait for me. He knew I'd be back!"

"W-What are you-"

"What'd you do with him? Where is he?"

* * *

Oliver had Sid in the library.

Miley walked in, followed by Lilly and Giles, noticed the dummy, and practically screamed. "What are you doing with that thing?"

"I took him out of the history teacher's cupboard," Oliver explained, "Morgan's alone and Sid's with me." He started messing with Sid. "_Hi there! Would you like to hear some off-color jokes?_"

"Oliver, stop it!" Miley demanded.

"Oh, come on…_I'm not real!_"

"Very funny, Oli-" Lilly started.

"He's…" Oliver started banging Sid against the table. "Not…" Bang. "Real!" Bang! "I think our demonstration proves that Sid is wood! Now we can just find Morgan and prove that he's…whatever he is!"

"Fine," Miley said, "I'll go watch Morgan, and you guys watch the dummy."

"_Buh-bye now!_" Oliver imitated, "_I'm completely inanimate!_"

Miley rolled her eyes and left.

"Lilly, we have some hunting of our own to do," Giles said, leading her to the stacks, "You can focus on re-animation theory. I'll check organ harvesting. Good luck."

"Oh, this ought to be fun," Lilly said, starting to pull down some books.

"So I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Oliver said to Sid.

* * *

Miley was walking through the auditorium looking for Morgan. Just as she was about to go backstage, she sensed a presence and spun around. "Principal Snyder!"

"Looking for something?" asked the principal.

"Yeah, have you seen Morgan Shay?" asked Miley.

"You know, with everything that's been going on recently, it's not very safe for a little girl like you to be alone by herself."

Miley crossed her arms at him, feeling the anger well up inside her. _Nobody calls me "little girl." _"I was just leaving. And I know how to take care of myself."

Snyder crossed his arms at her. "OK then." With that, he walked off.

* * *

Oliver was doing his homework at the table in the library with Sid sitting in the chair next to him.

Lilly ran up to Giles in the stacks. "Check this out. 'On rare occasions, inanimate objects, such as puppets and mannequins, already of human consciousness, can act upon their desire to become human by harvesting human organs.'"

"Emily's heart," Giles reasoned.

"Morgan's dummy."

Oliver heard this and fearfully turned to look at the dummy…but shrieked and fell out of his chair when he saw that the dummy was gone!

* * *

"Morgan?" Miley was still backstage. She came to a rack of clothes and scooted them out of the way…to reveal Morgan's dead body lying on the floor. "Morgan!" She looked at his head and noticed that it'd been cut open. "Demon's got himself a brain." She heard a creaking and looked up to see a chandelier falling over her. She rolled out of the way and it fell on Morgan's body. She looked around but didn't see anyone there. "Whoever you are, I'm gonna hurt you! Badly! Just give me a minute…" She started to get up, but was knocked down. She turned to see who had hit her and saw Sid standing over her with a knife. She batted him out of the way, making him slam into the wall and drop the knife, and jumped up. She bent down, picked up the knife, and pinned Sid to the wall, holding it up to his neck as a threat.

"OK, you win!" Sid said, "You can take your heart and your brain and get out!"

"I'm sure they would've made great trophies for your case."

"That would've been justice."

"Yeah, but one problem: you lost. And now you'll never be human."

"Yeah, but neither will you!"

They thought about that for 2 seconds and then realized something was up. "What?"

* * *

"This is what I do," Sid was telling the others later in the library, "I hunt demons. And now…let's just say there was me, a really mean demon, a curse, and then suddenly I'm not me anymore."

"And ever since then," Lilly figured out, "you've been a _Goosebumps_ character?"

"The kid was right all along," said Sid, "I should've picked you guys to team up with, but I didn't because-"

"Because you thought _I_ was the demon," Miley finished for him.

"Who can blame me for thinking it?" Sid continued, "You're strong, athletic, limber…" He started staring off into space. "…pretty…" He shook his head around a bit. "I'm back! No matter, the demon's got a heart and a brain now and he can keep the human form he's in for another 7 years. There were 7 of these guys, I've killed 6, and if I kill the last one, the curse will be lifted and I'll be free. I'm sure it's someone in the talent show."

"And now that the demon has what he wants, he'll be moving on," Oliver said.

"So once we figure out who's missing from the show, we'll know who our demon is!" Miley said.

"The show!" Giles said, "It's starting! I'm supposed to be there!"

"OK, uh…" Miley turned to Lilly. "Start pulling up everyone's addresses. Maybe we can catch them at home."

"And you," Sid told Giles, "get the kids to form a power circle."

"What?"

"Power circle. Get them all together before curtain and get 'em, you know, revved up."

"Right, right…" Giles walked off.

"How'd he ever get that gig?"

* * *

Miley and Sid were on the catwalk above the stage, watching Giles prep everyone.

"So what's your deal, kid?" Sid asked her, "You're sure not a demon hunter."

"I'm a Vampire Slayer."

"You? You're the Slayer? Wow. I knew a Slayer back in the 30's. Korean chick, very hot. Man, we had some times." He then noticed the look Miley was giving him. "Hey, that was pre-dummy, alright? I was a guy!"

"So, you kill the demon and the curse is lifted, right?" Sid nodded. "You don't exactly turn into a prince, do you?"

"No, I'm dust and bones. When I say free…"

"…you mean dead."

Giles looked around. "Is everybody here?"

"Here comes our line-up," Sid said.

"Quickly, everyone!" Giles got everyone together and formed a circle on the stage…but no one was missing. "Uh…OK, everyone get ready. 15 minutes to curtain." Everyone ran off.

When everyone was gone, Miley jumped down onto the stage. "No one's missing. Do you think the demon isn't in the show?"

"Maybe. Go tell the others, I have to get ready for the show." Giles walked off.

Miley looked back up at the catwalk to find that Sid was gone. "Sid?" She started to walk over to the ladder, but stopped at a workbench when she felt something dripping on her arm. She looked up and Morgan's brain fell into her hands. She dropped it onto the floor with a startled yelp.

* * *

"I'm never gonna stop washing my hands," Miley told Lilly and Oliver, who were looking on the computer.

"So," Oliver said, "the dummy tells us he's a demon hunter and we're perfectly cool with it. Then he vanishes and we find Morgan's brain."

"Look, Sid's on our side," Miley said, "I'm sure of it. My concern is why the demon rejected the brain. I thought Morgan was the smartest kid in school."

"He was," Lilly said, "Look at his grades: all A's. He was even taking college classes…but he had all these sick days. He was off for nearly half the year!" She typed a little. "Look! I pulled up the school nurse's file and it has a note about him. 'In case of emergency, contact Dr. Dale Leggett, California Institute of Neurosurgery, Cancer Ward.' That's why he had all the headaches! He had brain cancer!"

"And whatever's out there needs a _healthy and intelligent_ brain," Miley reasoned.

Oliver sighed with relief. "I'm safe."

"So, it's gonna be looking for the smartest person around," Miley said. She and Oliver both looked at Lilly.

Lilly looked up from the monitor and noticed them staring at her. "What?"

* * *

"Yes," Giles told Marc, "if you calibrate the units of weight, then you can calculate the specific maximum velocity achieved before the point of impact."

"Wow, Mr. Giles," Marc said, "You're really smart! Could you do me a favor?"

* * *

"What would the demon want with me?" Lilly asked.

"What's square root of 841?" Oliver asked her.

"29," Lilly said, smiling proudly. She then realized what she'd done. "Oh, yeah."

"Don't worry, Lilly," Miley said, "As long as you're with us, there's no way this demon can get what he wants."

* * *

Marc's guillotine sliced open a watermelon.

"Oh my," Giles said, "Are you sure there's no one else who can help you?"

"My assistant got sick," Marc explained, "Now get down on the floor, we don't have much time."

* * *

"This is ridiculous!" Miley said, "We can't just sit here and wait for him to come for us. We need to figure out who we're dealing with."

"I still vote dummy," said Oliver.

"No!" Miley insisted, "Now we've ruled out everyone in the talent show-"

"That's because they were all there," Lilly corrected, "But that was before we found the brain."

"So it probably is one of them," Miley said. She then realized their dire situation. "And Giles doesn't know! He's with them all right now!"

"Giles can handle himself," Oliver said, "He's really…" _DING!_ "…smart!"

They all scrambled up and burst through the library doors, running down the hall. "GILES!"

* * *

Giles was strapped down to the guillotine bench. "Shouldn't it be aimed at my neck?"

"No," Marc said, "When your scalp gets cut open, the brains just come pouring out."

"What?" Giles immediately tried to get up, but bonked his head on the wood restraint.

Marc picked up a hatchet and got ready to cut the rope, but Miley jumped at him from behind. He knocked her off, but she pulled on his legs, making him lose his balance and fall down.

Miley came up to Giles and tried to pull him out. "Where's the key?"

"Marc has it," Giles informed her.

"Miley!"

Miley turned to see Marc swinging the hatchet at her. She ducked out of the way just in time and allowed Oliver a chance to jump Marc. Lilly ran in and observed the fight. While Marc was pretty much pinned down, she ran over, picked up the hatchet, and started hacking away at the lock. Miley and Oliver pushed Marc into the disappearing box and locked it and then ran over and undid the restraints as soon as Lilly had cut the lock open. Just when they thought they were home free, Marc started to punch his way out of the box, emerging in his demon form.

"I found you!" Sid jumped him this time, waving a knife at him. Sid started to stab him and finally knocked him onto the bench. Oliver picked up the hatchet and cut the rope, launching the guillotine on demon Marc and chopping off his head.

"I must say," Giles said, "to all of you…your timing is impeccable."

Sid got up. "Now for the big finish." He got ready to pierce the demon in the heart, but Miley stopped him.

"What are you doing?"

"It's not enough. You have to get 'em in the heart or they'll just come back."

"Let me," Miley insisted.

"I got it, thanks." Sid plunged the knife into the demon's heart and then stabbed it a few more times before stopping all movement.

Miley picked him up, laid the knife on the floor, and looked the wood plank that had once been alive. "It's over."

Before they could leave, the curtain opened. They all looked out at the audience.

Snyder just stared at them. "I don't get it."

**END EPISODE**


	10. Nightmares

Chapter 10: Nightmares

_Miley was walking through the Master's lair. Suddenly, the Master came up to her and grabbed her, leaning in to bite her._

"_NO! NO!"_

"No…"

"Yes."

"NO…"

"Miley!" Robbie shook her awake. "You're gonna be late for school."

Miley opened her eyes. "Daddy?"

"Come on, bud, we gotta go."

Miley turned over in her bed.

"Don't make me get the water bucket."

Miley's eyes snapped open. She looked at him. "You wouldn't."

Jackson showed up at the door, drenched in water. "Oh, yes, he would." He ran off.

Miley quickly got up and started to get ready to go.

"Works every time," Robbie said to himself.

* * *

"Now I don't want you to feel pressured or uncomfortable or anything," Lilly told Miley as they were opening their lockers, "but what happened to your mother again?"

"She died a few years back just after a concert/talent show in Crowley Corners," Miley explained, "She had been sick with cancer for a while and didn't even get to see me get called as the Slayer, but, just before the concert, which, by the way, I was performing in with my dad, she gave me this anklet." Miley held up her leg to show a gold anklet on her right leg with the word "dream" written in diamonds. "I've worn it in every Hannah show I've done. It's like she's right there on stage with me."

"Aw…" Lilly hugged her best friend. "You know, my parents got divorced a few years ago and my dad's living an hour away."

"Lilly, that's terrible!"

"Not necessarily. I still have both my parents, even if they're not still together. Your parents aren't together anymore because one of them died."

"Well, why did your parents split up?"

"I don't know. They never told me. I never asked." Lilly looked at her watch. "Oh no, we're gonna be late for class!" She ran off.

"Yeah, that'd be tragic." Miley followed her.

* * *

Ashley was taking this class, but Amber wasn't. Ashley was checking her makeup with a compact mirror when the boy in front of her moved his work into the light to examine it. "Hey, doofus! You're in my light!"

Oliver gasped. "Wendell!" he scolded, sarcastically, "Don't you know that Amber and Ashley are the center of the universe and that the rest of us merely revolve around them?"

"Well, why don't you revolve yourselves out of my light?" Ashley suggested.

Miley and Lilly rushed in at that moment.

"What'd we miss?" Lilly asked.

"Oh, Wendell was in Ashley's light," Oliver explained.

"I'm so ashamed," Wendell said, sarcastically.

Lilly sat down, Miley sitting next to her. "Man, why is she so Miss Piggy-like? And Amber, too."

"I think it's the hair," Miley answered, "It weighs heavy on the cerebral cortex." Lilly laughed.

"Hey, guys," Oliver whispered, "was there any homework today?"

"We're doing active listening," Lilly said.

"Right, great." 3…2…1… "What's that?"

"You know, where you put on your big ears and really listen to the other person?" Lilly explained.

"Yeah, Ms. Fisher demonstrated it yesterday!" Miley added.

"With you!"

"She was wearing that fuzzy sweater?"

"Oh, the midnight blue angora! See? I was listening!" Lilly and Miley both gave him looks.

The teacher (Ms. Fisher, as you know) came in. "Alright, class, take your seats and settle down. In a few minutes, we'll go over what we read about in chapter 5." Oliver cupped his hands over his ears. "Good, Oliver, that's the spirit!" Miley and Lilly gave each other amused looks and then Miley noticed a little boy standing in the doorway, looking in at her. "OK, Wendell, will you please read the first 2 paragraphs on page 78?"

Wendell opened his book and then suddenly screamed and dropped it on the desk. There were tarantulas crawling out of it! Ms. Fisher and the students closest to him all screamed.

"Sorry about that," the little boy whispered before walking off.

* * *

Miley, Lilly, and Oliver met in the library later.

"Giles?" Miley looked around for him.

Finally, he emerged from the stacks. "Sorry, I got lost in the stacks."

"Did you find anything on spiders coming out of books?" Oliver asked. He turned to Lilly. "Big, hairy, crawly…" He started tickling her arm. Lilly pulled away. "It's funny if you're me."

Miley turned to Giles. "Wendell had a…incident in class."

"Well, I didn't notice anything weird. Maybe you should talk to Wendell himself."

* * *

The girls and Oliver approached Wendell in the quad.

"Hey, Wendell," Miley said. He looked at her. "You OK?"

"Good talking to you, man," Oliver said. He turned to leave, but Lilly pulled him back.

"Do you guys want something?" asked Wendell.

"We just wanted to talk to you about what happened earlier…with the spiders," Lilly said, "I mean, has anything like it happened before?" Wendell nodded. "When?"

"For a long time actually."

"Ew!" Lilly said, "You must hate spiders more than we do."

"I don't hate spiders, I love 'em. They hate me."

Ashley came up to them. "Hope you studied for the history test, Miley." She walked off

"There's a history test?" Miley ran after her.

"What do you mean you love spiders?" asked Lilly.

"I had the best collection in the tri-county area. Then my parents shipped me off to wilderness camp for a week. My brother was just supposed to maintain their habitats. Instead, he left their heat lamp on for the whole week. When I got back, they were all dead. That's when the nightmares started."

"Nightmares?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah. The teacher would ask me to read something and then I'd open the book and they'd all come crawling out."

"That's exactly what happened yesterday," Oliver said.

"I know."

Miley ran up to Ashley in the hall just outside the history classroom. "Nobody said anything about a test!"

"Well, maybe if you'd attend a class once in a while, you would have known! Good luck." Ashley walked in.

Miley groaned desperately and reluctantly followed her. She sat down and looked at the test page. "At least I know my name." She put down her signature and then glanced at the clock. 11:20. She looked back at the test page, but every word seemed like gibberish. She glanced back at the clock and stared at in disbelief. 12:10? She hurriedly started guessing the multiple choice answers but only put down 3 before the bell rang. 20 minutes had passed in what was really only 10 seconds! Miley groaned again and, before getting up, saw the little boy in the doorway again.

The little boy walked down the hall and came across 2 girls, who didn't seem to notice him.

"Well, good luck with your next class," said one girl, "I'm gonna go take a…" She looked around and pointed to the door to the basement. "…_break_." She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her purse and went down the stairs.

"You shouldn't go down there," the little boy said.

The girl closed the door behind her and came into the basement. It was weakly lit. She took out one of the cigarettes and tried to light it, when…

"Lucky 19!"

She twirled around to see a badly scarred man standing behind her with a huge club.

* * *

"I think they said room 3016," Miley told Giles as they walked down the hall of the hospital.

"Do you know the girl?" Giles asked her.

"Laura's nice enough," Miley answered, "Nobody saw who attacked her, though." Finally, she found the room they were looking for and walked in. "Hey, Laura."

Laura, who was badly wounded, looked at them and smiled. "Hey."

"I hope we're not intruding" Giles said, laying a bouquet of flowers on the table next to the bed.

"That's OK," Laura said, "I don't wanna be left alone."

Miley sat down next to her. "Can you tell us what happened? We wanna make sure it doesn't happen again."

"I went down to the basement for a smoke and there was someone there."

"Who?" Giles asked, "Can you describe them?"

Laura didn't say anything.

"It's OK," Miley said, "If you remember anything, you can tell us. Even if it may seem weird."

A nurse came in. "Hi, Laura." She then noticed Miley and Giles. "She needs her rest now." The 2 started to leave.

"'Lucky 19.'"

Miley whirled around. "What?"

"That's what he said before he attacked me," Laura explained.

"That's weird…uh, take care." With that, Miley left and Giles followed her. She met a doctor in the hall. "Is she gonna be OK?"

"She has a few shattered bones and some internal bleeding, but she'll recover," the doctor explained, "She got off easy. The first one's still in a coma."

"'First one'?" Miley asked.

"The first victim," the doctor said, walking over to another room, "They found him a week ago in even worse shape than the girl. If he doesn't wake up soon…" He trailed off. "Somebody's gotta stop this guy."

Miley crossed her arms. "Somebody will."

* * *

"Listen, I'm not afraid of him," a punk in the school hallway said, "If he wants to fight, I'm taking him down!"

"I'm just saying," Lilly told Oliver as she opened her locker, "Wendell had a nightmare and then it came true."

"It's weird, I'll admit," Oliver said, "but do you think that ties with Laura?"

"I don't know, maybe she dreamed about getting beat up. We can ask Miley when she gets back."

Just then, the punk's mother came into the hall. "Oh, there's my little baby!"

"Mom?" The punk tried to pull himself away from her as she pulled him in for a hug. "Mom, stop it!"

Lilly quickly closed her locker and walked away, Oliver following her.

"It could be a coincidence," said Oliver, "You know, Wendell finds a spider nest or something and we all make a deal out of it because he had dreamt about it."

Lilly walked into the classroom first and the students inside immediately started laughing. She was confused and then turned around and saw Oliver standing there in his underwear. "Oliver! What to your clothes?"

"I-I don't know! I was dressed a minute ago! It's gotta be a dream." Oliver pinched himself. "Ow! Wake up!" He pinched himself again. "Ow! Gotta wake up!" He then realized it wasn't a dream and ran from the room, screaming. Lilly, of course, chased after him.

* * *

Giles, meanwhile, was jumbling through some newspapers in the library. "No, this can't be happening!"

Miley came into the library. "What's the word?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know if you found anything?"

"Miley, I…I can't read."

"What?" Miley ran over to him. "What are you talking about? You can read…like, 3 languages!"

"5, actually. But these words don't make any sense! It's gibberish!" He tossed the newspapers onto the table and started to walk off.

Miley then caught sight of a picture of the little boy she'd seen in one of the papers. "That's him."

Giles turned around. "Who?"

"The boy I was seeing around school." Miley picked up the paper and started to read it. "'12-year-old Billy Palmer was found beaten and unconscious after his kiddy league game this past Saturday. Doctors describe his situation as critical.' When was this published?" She looked at the date. "Last week! This is the kid from the hospital! The first victim!"

"And you've seen him around school?"

"Yeah, after the spiders got Wendell and then when I didn't know a thing on the history test. I thought it was weird seeing this kid around, but I forgot about it."

"This boy's been in a coma for a week! How can this be possible? Let me think, uh…there's astral projection! The theory that while one sleeps, they have an incorporeal body which can travel through time and space."

"Do you think that's what I'm seeing? His asteroid body?"

"_Astral_ body, and I don't know."

Lilly ran into the library. "Have you guys seen Oliver?"

"No," Miley said.

"Good, I was worried there for a minute." Just then, someone came in through the library doors. Lilly turned to look at them. "Dad?"

"There you are!" said Lilly's dad, "I've been looking all over for you. Why aren't you in class?"

"What are you doing here?" Lilly asked, "I know I was supposed to hang out with you today, but you weren't supposed to pick me up until after school. Is something wrong?"

"No, I just thought I'd come talk to you."

"Oh, right." She looked at Miley and Giles. "Oh, uh, Dad, this is Miley Stewart, my best friend, and Mr. Giles, the librarian. Miley, Giles, this is my dad, Kenneth Truscott. He's an accountant."

"Hi," said Miley.

"Uh, likewise," Giles said.

"Uh, I'll be right back." Lilly followed her dad out.

Miley handed Giles one of the papers. "Try to keep going, I'm gonna follow them." She ran out after her best friend. She kept to the shadows before finally coming to the perfect spot where she could stay out of sight of Lilly and Mr. Truscott and still hear what they were saying."

"I came here early," Mr. Truscott said, "because I wanted to tell you about Heather and me. Why we split up."

"But," Lilly said, "you always told me it was because you'd grown too far apart. I-Isn't that true?" Her dad just looked at her for a second. "Was there someone else?"

"No, no, nothing like that. It was you." Lilly stared at him, wide-eyed, as he continued. "Having you, raising you, seeing you everyday. Do you have any idea what that's like?"

"What?" Lilly and Miley both said (Miley almost silently).

"You don't even see what's right in front of you, do you? Well, big surprise there, all you ever think of is yourself." It was then that Lilly started crying. "Now I don't think it's very mature, you crying when I'm just trying to be honest. Speaking of which, I don't really get anything out of these weekends with you, so what do you say we don't do them anymore?" He wrapped his arm around her and then walked off.

Lilly curled up in a ball and started to sob into her skirt.

Miley stared at her best friend, who looked like her dad had just died, and then noticed Billy standing not too far away.

* * *

"Red alert!" Oliver yelled, running into the library in his gym clothes, "Where's Miley?"

"Uh, she just stepped out," Giles said, "Lilly's father came by early and wanted to talk to her."

Lilly then came in, blowing her nose in a tissue.

"Are you OK?" asked Oliver.

"I-I'm fine. Did you tell him about how you got caught in class in your underwear yet?"

"I was getting to that!" Oliver groaned. "It was a total nightmare."

_DING!_ "Yeah, your nightmare. Wendell had his incident with the spiders. Miley probably dreamt the history test. My dad just made my nightmare come true-"

"And I dreamt," Giles added, "that I got lost in the stacks and couldn't read. Of course!"

"Our dreams are coming true?" Oliver asked.

"'Dreams'?" Giles quoted, "That would be a musical comedy version of this. Our nightmares are coming true."

"Why is this happening?" asked Lilly.

"Billy."

"Well, that explanation was shorter than usual," said Oliver, "It's Billy! Who's Billy?"

"A boy in the local hospital," Giles explained, "He was beaten and he's in a coma. Somehow, I think he crossed over from the nightmare world he's trapped in."

"And he took a piece of the nightmare world with him," Oliver reasoned, "Thanks a lot, Billy!"

"How'd he do this?" Lilly asked.

"Things like this are easy when you live on the Hell-Mouth," Giles said, "We have to stop it soon or everyone in Malibu is going to be facing their worst nightmares."

* * *

Ashley opened her locker door and looked at the mirror inside. She gasped when she saw that her hair was suddenly freakishly frizzy (like she had been struck by lightning, but tuned down a little). "This can't be happening! I was just at the salon!" She tried to run a comb through her hair to pull it down but it got stuck. She screamed, slammed the door shut, and ran off.

* * *

Miley walked into the empty gym and saw Billy sitting on one of the bleachers. She walked over to him and sat down next to him. "Are you Billy Palmer?" Billy nodded. "Why are you here? Did something bad happen to you after your last game?"

"I don't remember."

"Do you remember playing baseball?"

"Yeah. I was second base."

"Are you 'lucky 19'?"

Billy looked at her. "That's what he calls me. The Ugly Man. He wants to kill me. He hurt that girl."

"Why would he want to kill you?"

Billy looked behind her. "He's…"

"Billy, it's OK. Just tell me!"

"He's here!"

Miley spun around and saw the Ugly Man behind her with his club. She pushed Billy out of the way before he could hit either of them. Billy ran off and the Ugly Man pulled Miley's legs out from under her. She punched him in the face, knocking him back enough to give her time to limp out after Billy.

* * *

Giles, Oliver, and Lilly were all looking for Miley together.

"Miley doesn't know this is happening," Giles said, "And given the sort of thing she tends to dream about, it's imperative that we find her."

"Let's split up," Oliver suggested, "It'll cover more ground and it'll be faster."

"Good idea," Giles said. He and Oliver went off in opposite directions.

"Faster, but not really safer," Lilly said to herself once they were gone.

* * *

Miley slid a hockey stick through the handles of the gym doors to keep the Ugly Man from getting out and then pulled Billy away. "Who is he?"

"He's the Ugly Man."

"He's too strong! I can't fight him! We have to find my friends, they can help us." She ran off, Billy following her.

* * *

Lilly came into a hall in time to see Amber being dragged off by some nerds.

"No, I'm not even on the chess team! And I don't wanna join!"

Lilly giggled.

"Lilly!"

Lilly turned to where the voice was coming from. It was the basement. She reluctantly went over there, opened the door and walked down the stairs. "Hello? Miley? This isn't funny! I'm not scared!" Suddenly, a hand grabbed her and pulled her away.

* * *

Meanwhile, Oliver came to a vandalized hallway. He looked at the floor below a flickering ceiling light and saw a chocolate bar. "Alright!" He picked it up. "Someone else's loss is my chocolate-y goodness!" He started to open the wrapper and then saw a Hershey's bar not too far away. "This is my lucky day!" He grabbed it and kept going.

* * *

Miley led Billy to a baseball diamond outside the school building. "What? I was sure this led to the library!" Billy looked at the other side of the fence. "They're just playing. What's wrong?"

"Baseball. When you lose, it's bad."

Miley was starting to put the pieces together. "Did you lose your game last week?"

"It was all my fault. I missed the last ball. I should've caught it."

"You missed one ball and the whole game was your fault? What, were you the only one playing? There wasn't 8 other people on the team that messed up with you?"

"He said it was my fault."

"Who? Billy, did he hurt you?"

"Let's just go find your friends."

"OK, I think we can go around the cafeteria." The Ugly Man then came in their direction and punched a student out of the way. "Bad idea! Come on!" She pushed Billy through some bushes…and they emerged in a cemetery at nighttime on the other side. "What just happened?"

"Is this where your friends are?"

"No."

* * *

Lilly came to a backstage area. "What?" She looked to see who'd pulled her and saw a show director. She looked down and saw that her clothes had changed to a white lab coat. She looked in the nearest mirror and saw that her hair had gone from ponytail to pigtails. She was dressed like Gabriella Montez from High School Musical!

"Man, I thought you weren't gonna show!" said the director, "Zac is beside himself. I hope you're warmed up, it's a tough crowd out there. All the reviewers showed up." He pushed her onto the auditorium stage, just behind the curtain.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present, 2 of the world's greatest singers," said the emcee, "Zac Efron and Lilly Truscott!"

"I'm singing with Zac Efron?" Lilly asked, panicking, "But I don't know which song we're singing and I…I never remember all the words anyway!"

"Too late now," said the director, "Good luck!" He ran off, then came back, pushed her through the curtain, and ran off again.

Lilly bumped into Zac, who gave her a look. She smiled and then turned away. "Oh, boy!" she squealed under her breath. Finally, the applause died down, and the song started.

" _We're soaring, flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach…_"

Lilly just stared out at the audience and didn't say anything.

Zac realized she wasn't going to sing and moved on. "_You know the world can see us, in a way that's different than who we are. _" He looked at Lilly again.

"My turn?" Zac nodded. She looked back at the audience and felt the nervousness boiling up inside her. She started singing, but her voice was screeching again. "_ Creating space between us- _"

"BOO!" The audience started throwing stuff at her and she ran off the stage, hurriedly taking off the lab coat and leaving on the floor, thus changing her outfit to a pink T-shirt and floral skirt before running off.

* * *

Oliver came to a section of the hall where sheets of plastic were hanging from the ceiling. He then noticed the last one on the ground. "A Chocolate Hurricane!" He bent over just enough to pick it up. "These are the best!" He dropped his stash and started to eat it. "I haven't had one of these since my…" He started hearing an incessant giggling coming toward him. "…sixth…" He turned around. "…birthday!"

A shadow emerged on the plastic and a clown slashed through it with a knife.

Oliver screamed like a girl and ran away as fast as he could.

* * *

Miley looked around the cemetery. "I don't see the Ugly Man. Of course, I also don't know where the sun and the rest of the world went."

"Look at this." Miley turned to see what Billy was looking at and saw an empty grave. "I wonder who died."

"Nobody died." Miley whirled around and saw the Master. "What's the point of burying someone if they're already dead?"

"No…" Miley started backing up.

"So this is the Slayer. You're prettier than the last one."

"This isn't real! You can't be free!"

"You still don't understand, do you? I am free because you fear it. Because you fear it, the world is crumbling. Your nightmares become flesh. You have young Billy to thank for that."

Miley turned around but Billy was gone. She turned back to the Master. "No, this is a dream."

"A dream is a wish your heart makes." He sped over to her and grabbed her by the neck. "This is real life." He pulled her around so that her back was facing the empty grave. "Come on, Slayer, what are you afraid of?" He bared his teeth and dropped her into the empty grave. "How about being buried alive?"

* * *

Lilly and Oliver met in the hall.

"Did you find Miley?" asked Oliver.

"No, but I had to sing. I'm a terrible singer under pressure!" She then noticed his traumatized condition. "What happened to you?"

"Remember my 6th birthday party?"

Lilly smiled. "Oh, yeah. When the clown chased you and you got scared that you had to—oh."

"Come on!" Oliver dragged her away, but they started to hear the giggling and turned around to see the clown slicing through another sheet of plastic. They ran, right into Giles.

"No sign of Miley?" Giles assumed. He then noticed the clown and ran off with them.

When they reached the end of the hall, Oliver finally got tired of it and stopped, turning around and punching the clown (no rhyme intended). "You are a lousy clown! Your balloon animals were pathetic! Everyone can make a giraffe!" With that, he walked off with Lilly and Giles close behind him. They went outside. "I feel good. I feel liberated!" Some kids ran past them.

"You seem to be the only one," said Giles, "Things are getting worse. In a few hours, reality will fold completely into the realm of nightmares. All we have to do to stop it is wake Billy, though."

"Well, we can't go without Miley," said Oliver.

"Agreed," Giles said, "But who knows where she might be?"

"Uh, allow me to point that…since when is there a cemetery across the street?"

They all looked up to see a portal to the cemetery Miley was in.

"And since when is it night over there?" asked Oliver.

They looked at each other and ran in.

"Whose nightmare is this?" asked Lilly.

Giles came to the empty grave, which was now completely covered in dirt, and stopped running upon seeing the headstone.

Lilly and Oliver stopped running and read the headstone, too:

Miley Stewart  
1992-2009

"It's mine." Giles knelt down on Miley's grave. "I've failed in my duty to protect you. I should've been more cautious, taken more time to train you. But you were so gifted. However, the evil was so great…I'm sorry."

Suddenly, a hand punched through the dirt. Lilly screamed, but it was Miley digging herself out.

Miley started brushing the dirt off her clothes and sighed with relief. "I thought I was dead."

"Miley," Lilly said, "Your face…"

Miley felt her face and realized what had happened…she was a Vampire! "But, I…no…"

"Miley…" Oliver reached out for her.

"Don't look at me!" Miley said, whirling around.

"You never told me you dreamt of becoming a Vampire," Giles said.

"This isn't a dream."

"No, it's not. But we can turn it into one. This all comes from Billy. If we can make him wake up, all the nightmares will go away and reality will shift back into place. But we must do it now!"

Miley looked back at them. "Alright. Let's get going. I'm getting hungry." She walked off.

Oliver looked at her. "That's a joke, right?"

* * *

The group ran through the halls of the hospital, where pandemonium was reigning.

Giles stopped the first doctor he saw. "Is Billy still here?"

"My hands…" The doctor showed them his crippled hands, screamed, and ran off.

Oliver ran into Billy's room first. "What now?"

Giles bent over Billy's bed. "BILLY!" He started shaking the little boy. "BILLY!"

"That's not going to work." They all turned to see Billy's astral body in the doorway. "I can't wake up, I have to hide."

"Why?" Giles asked, "From what?"

"From him!" Miley said, noticing the Ugly Man coming down the hall. "I'll deal with him." She took off her jacket and walked down the hall. "Glad you showed up. I'm having a really bad day!"

"Lucky 19!"

"Ooh, scary! Face it, buddy. There are scarier things in life than you." She walked forward into the light to show him her Vamp face. "And I'm one of them." She jumped at him and kicked him in the face, knocking him back. He knocked her back and she slammed into the wall. She got up, kicked him in the gut, and punched him in the face, which made him fall backward into the wall just next to the door that led to Billy's room. She pushed him around the door and head-butted him into the wall, knocking him out. She turned to Billy. "He's not dead. You have to finish it." Billy looked at her and then slowly walked to the Ugly Man's unconscious body. "No more hiding." Billy looked at her again and then pulled the guy's face off, making a blinding light stream out.

Suddenly, Lilly was back in her original schoolgirl outfit, Oliver was back in his clothes, and Miley was human again. They looked around and noticed that the Ugly Man and Billy's astral body were gone, too.

Lilly looked at Billy's coma body and saw him stirring. "Hey, he's waking up!" They all gathered around.

Billy woke up. "I had the strangest dream." He looked at them. "And you were in it. Who are you people?" They all smiled.

Just then, a guy came in, wearing a baseball cap and coaching uniform. "Oh! Billy's got visitors. I'm his kiddy league coach. I've been coming by everyday to see if he's gonna wake up soon. He's my lucky 19." Giles and Miley looked at each other and realized what was going on. "So how is he?"

"Awake," Miley answered, scooting out of the way to reveal Billy to his coach, "You blamed him for losing the game. So you caught up with him afterwards, didn't you?"

"What are you talking a-"

"You said it was my fault we lost." Billy sat up. "It wasn't my fault. There's 8 other players on the team who messed up with me. You know that." The coach started to leave, but Oliver and Giles blocked the door to the hall.

Miley looked at Billy. "Nice going, kid." Billy smiled at her.

* * *

"I still can't believe a kiddy league coach would do something like that," Miley told Lilly and Oliver later that day as they were leaving school.

"Well then you obviously never played kiddy league," Oliver said, "I'm surprised it wasn't one of his parents."

"I'm just glad the guy's behind bars, where he belongs," said Lilly.

"That was pretty heroic, Oliver," Miley said, "Blocking him and all."

"Oh, I just did what any guy would do," said Oliver, "But if you wanna label it heroic…" He was interrupted by a car honk.

Lilly turned to see her dad waving at her not far away. "That's my dad. I gotta go." She ran over to him and hugged him.

"Hey, how was your day?" asked Mr. Truscott.

"Oh, you know, usual." She looked at Oliver. "Uh, could you give me a second?"

"Sure."

Lilly nodded and then pulled Oliver aside. "Personal question: when Miley was a Vampire, you weren't still attracted to her, right?"

"What? Lilly, how can you say that? That's really bent! I mean-"

"Still dug her, huh?"

"I'm sick. I need help."

"Don't I know it," Lilly said, walking off and getting into the car with her dad.

"Margaret can't wait to see you," said Mr. Truscott.

"Margaret's you, Dad!"

Miley looked at Oliver and then saw her dad and brother pulling up and went off with them, not noticing Oliver gazing at her as she walked off.

**END EPISODE**


	11. Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Chapter 11: Out of Mind, Out of Sight

Ashley sighed as she walked down the hall of the school, her new boyfriend, Mitch, on her arm. "Spring! My favorite time of year! The end of school!" She tugged on Mitch's arm. "And I can't wait to see you with me at the end of school dance! Amber and I are having our dresses specially made."

"I can't wait," said Mitch, "Let me guess…blue like your eyes?"

Ashley laughed. "My eyes are hazel, Helen Keller. But we will look great together in the May Queen photo. I mean, I haven't been elected yet, but I know I'm a shoe-in…unless, of course, Amber upstages me again, but I'm branching out!" Miley then came out of the library and bumped into her, spilling the weapon contents of her bag on the floor. "Behold the weirdness."

Miley bent over and started picking her stuff up. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing with this stuff."

"Let me think," Ashley said, "Um…no!" She giggled and walked off with Mitch. "She is always hanging out with that creepy librarian in that creepy library! Did Amber ever tell you about the time she attacked her? I don't know why the school lets in mental patients like her."

"At least they stopped me calling me 'hillbilly'," Miley said to herself as soon as they were gone before walking off.

* * *

"'If you prick us, do we not bleed?'" quoted the English teacher, "'If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? If you wrong us, shall we not seek revenge?' Now who can tell me how what Shylock is saying here about being a Jew relates to our modern-day society?"

"How about 'color me self-involved'?" Ashley said, "I mean, with Shylock, it's all whine, whine, whine. It's like he thinks the whole world is about him."

"But why has he suffered?" asked the teacher, "What was his place in Venice society?"

"Well, everyone looked down on him," Lilly pointed out.

"That is such a stupid defense!" Ashley argued, "Shylock should get over himself. It's like this time last week when I sort of ran over this girl on her bike. It was the most traumatizing event of _my_ life, and she was making it all about _her_ leg, like _my_ pain meant nothing!"

"Well, Ashley has certainly brought up an interesting point," said the teacher, "We'll go over it further tomorrow."

While everyone was gathering up their things, Ashley went up to the desk. "Ms. Miller?"

"Good job on your observations today," commented Ms. Miller, "It's always exciting to know that someone actually did the reading."

Lilly rolled her eyes and walked out. She'd done more reading in the past week than Amber and Ashley's whole lives put together!

"Thanks," said Ashley, "I actually wanted to talk to you about my final paper. I have all these thoughts and it really feels like they all contradict each other."

"Well, I have your outline right here, but what do you say I help you with that tomorrow?"

"That'd be great! Thanks! See you then!" Ashley ran into the hall just in time to stop Amber.

"Hey, Ash!" Amber said, "The shop called! Our dresses are ready!"

"Thanks!" Ashley said, "Mitch is gonna die!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Mitch was in the boys' locker room.

"Hey! Mitch!" called one boy, coming up to him, "You going to the Bronze tonight?"

"Later," Mitch answered, "I have to pick up my tux first. Gotta look sharp for the big dig."

"Oh, that's right. You gotta look good to be on Ashley's arm."

"It's not her arm I'm looking to be on."

The other boy laughed and walked off.

Before Mitch could leave, he heard footsteps. "Who's there?" He only heard more footsteps. He caught sight of a baseball bat and reached out to grab it, but it suddenly lifted up on its own and smacked him in the face.

* * *

Amber and Ashley were walking down the hall passing out cupcakes to promote voting.

Amber handed one to one of their friends.

The girl noticed the white frosted letters on the chocolate. "'A & A'? For Amber and Ashley?"

"No," Amber said, sarcastically, "For Tom, Dick, and Harry. Just for Amber and Ashley!"

Ashley immediately rolled her eyes and moved on to the next student. "Would like a-" The student faced her and she saw that it was Miley. "Oh…no, thanks. I don't think we need the…"

"Loony vote," Amber and Ashley both said. They looked at each other. "Ooh!" They touched fingers. "Ss!" They walked off.

"Well, I don't even like cupcakes!" Miley yelled after them. She looked back at her locker. "OK, that was the lamest comeback of our time. Who doesn't love cupcakes?"

Oliver walked up to Miley, Lilly following. "What are they up to?"

"Bribery," Miley answered, "Both of them are desperate to be May Queen."

"Wait till they find out they're only competing against each other," Lilly said, "But, oh, how Amber loves titles." She then started to laugh hysterically and put her arm on Oliver's shoulder. "Remember in 6th grade on the field trip?"

"Oh, 'Be my Deputy!'" Oliver then started laughing, too. "And the hat!"

"Oh, man, the hat!"

"It must be fun speaking in tongues," Miley said, making them both stop laughing.

"It's just that…oh, you had to be there," Oliver said.

Lilly scoffed. "It wasn't even that funny. Amber just has a history of trying to hard. If I'm voting, I'm voting for Ashley. Pinch me, Oliver." Oliver pinched her. "Ow!"

Suddenly, the boy who Mitch had been talking to came up to Amber and Ashley. "It's Mitch! He got whaled on! I think he's…"

* * *

"'Dead'?" Snyder asked, "Yeah, right! There are no dead students here…this week." The paramedics then started to roll Mitch out and down the hall to the ambulance. "Clear the halls! Make some room!"

Miley stopped them. "Mitch! What happened?"

"I was alone in the locker room," Mitch explained, "I heard something. I tried to grab a baseball bat, but it started floating. By itself, it attacked me!" The paramedics didn't need to hear anymore. They rolled him off.

Miley walked over to Oliver and Lilly. "I'm going in to check it out." She turned to go to the locker room, but Snyder blocked the way.

"Where do you think you're going?" Snyder asked.

"Uh…Mitch wanted me to get-"

"I think all that Mitch needs right now is medical attention. You need to stay away from the crime scene, Stewart. It-"

"What's that?" Lilly asked, loudly, "Mitch was going to sue the school?"

"Sue?" Snyder went over to her.

Miley mouthed a "thank you" to her friends and ran for the locker room.

"Yeah, his dad is the most powerful lawyer in Malibu," said Oliver.

"The other lawyers call him 'the Beast'!" Lilly added.

Miley went into the locker room and looked around. She saw the "weapon" lying on the ground and went over to it. She then noticed that some of the lockers in that row had been opened. She closed one and saw red paint that looked a lot like blood spattered on it. She closed the others until it finally spelled out a single word: "look."

* * *

"'Look'?" Lilly asked Miley later in the cafeteria, "That's all it said? I mean…look at what?"

"I don't know," Miley answered, not noticing Giles coming in and finding their table, "All I know is that it's a message. And monsters don't usually send messages. It's usually crush, kill, destroy. This was different."

"I have to say you're right," Giles said.

Miley looked at him and smiled. "I love it when you say that."

Giles sat down next to her. "It's a bit of a puzzle, really. I've never actually heard of anyone attacked by a baseball bat before."

"Maybe it's a Vampire bat!" Oliver said. Everyone looked at him. "I'm alone on that one, huh?"

"Well, assuming the bat itself is not possessed," Giles continued, "we're most likely looking at an invisible creature, quite possibly a poltergeist."

"A Ghost?" Lilly asked.

"Precisely. And a very angry one at that."

"I'll say," said Miley, "You should've seen the locker room."

"If it's a Ghost, does that mean we're looking at a dead kid?" Lilly asked.

"Probably," said Miley, "So the best place to start would be to compile a list of dead and missing kids."

"And I'll research on all the possibilities," Giles said, starting to get up, "Ghosts included. Uh, Oliver, would you like to help me?"

"Wait, there's homework now?" Oliver asked, "When did that happen?"

"It's all part of the glamorous world of Vampire slayage," Miley said, "I'm going to find out what I can about Mitch. This attack wasn't random."

"I want that part!" Oliver immediately put in.

"Fine, you can talk to his friends. Talk to Amber and Ashley!"

"Talk? To Amber and Ashley?" Miley nodded. "So, research, huh? Let's get in on, Giles!" He walked off to the library and Giles followed.

* * *

Ashley finished using the drinking fountain and Amber walked up to her.

"Hey, Ash!" Amber said, "You weren't in fifth period."

"Oh, I went to the hospital."

"Oh, Mitch. How is he?"

"The doctor says he'll be fine. They're sending him home tomorrow, but you should have seen him lying there all black and blue. How is he gonna look in the Prom pictures? How am I ever gonna be able to show them to anyone?"

"Ash, people can do amazing things with airbrushes these days."

*** Flashback ***

Amber found Ashley at the water fountain. "So how's it going being the mean girl, Ash?"

"Oh, fine, but did you see Mitch?" Ashley asked in return, "He just broke up with Wendy 8 seconds ago and he's already nosing around! Hey, if he makes varsity baseball, maybe I'll take a test drive."

"Hey, guys!"

Amber and Ashley both looked at the girl who'd spoken to them.

"What do _you_ want?" asked Ashley, putting her hand on her hip.

*** End Flashback ***

"I need to talk to you," Miley said.

"Oh, this ought to be good," said Ashley.

"Why are you always try-" Amber couldn't go any further before jerking back and falling down the stairs and onto the grass in the quad. Ashley and Miley ran down after her.

Snyder came up. "Make some room, people! Someone get the nurse, too!"

"I think my ankle's broken!" Amber said, "How am I gonna cheer?"

"Relax!" Snyder looked at Ashley and Miley. "What happened?"

"She fell down the stairs!" Ashley answered.

"No, I was pushed!" Amber said.

"I didn't see anybody," Ashley corrected.

Miley faintly heard laughter and footsteps on the stairs and ran after it.

Snyder twisted Amber's ankle an inch.

"OW!"

"Don't sue!"

Miley reached the top of the stairs and followed the laughter. She walked into a classroom. "Anybody here?" Something bumped into her. She felt it but didn't see it. And then she heard the footsteps go into the band room. She followed, but didn't notice the ceiling access hatch open. "OK, I know someone's here. I'm not going to hurt you, I just wanna talk." She looked around and didn't hear anything, so she finally sighed and left. Once she was gone, the ceiling hatch dropped back into place.

* * *

"Giles, have you ever felt a Ghost?" Miley asked her Watcher later in the library. Lilly, Oliver, and Jackson were there, too.

"No, Ghosts usually pass through you," Giles answered.

"That's my problem," said Miley, "This thing bumped into me and it wasn't cold."

"So we're dealing with an invisible person?" asked Jackson.

"A girl, she laughed."

"A girl on campus with the ability to become invisible…" Giles thought out loud.

"That is so cool!" Oliver commented, "I would give anything to become invisible! I wouldn't use my powers to beat people up, though, but I would protect the girls' locker room!"

"Hear, hear!" Jackson said.

"I wanna know how she got this ability," said Lilly, "I hope she's not another Witch."

"Well, these Greek myths speak of cloaks of invisibility, but they're usually for the gods…and Harry Potter, of course." Everyone looked at Oliver at that. "Research Boy comes through with knowledge!"

"This girl's not a god," Miley said, "It's quite obvious."

"And she also has a grudge," said Lilly, "But why Amber?"

"Why not Amber?" Oliver asked.

"Amber _and Mitch_," Miley corrected, "The common denominator is Ashley!"

"I wonder if she's getting payback for something Ashley did last year," Lilly said.

"What do you mean?" asked Miley.

"Well, about this time last year, Ashley finally got tired of playing second fiddle and Amber let her be the mean girl for a couple weeks," Lilly explained, "Ever since, they've worked as equals."

"Alright then, now the question is: who did Ashley torture to death?" Miley asked, "Lilly, first thing tomorrow, pull up the missing kids list."

"Alright," said Lilly, gathering her stuff, "I'll see you then." She left.

Oliver followed her. "You wanna eat at my place? Mom's making her famous phone call to the Chinese place."

"I'll look for ways to de-cloak an invisible person," said Giles.

"And Jackson and I are gonna start a hunt while Amber and Ashley and co are working on their May Queen dresses," said Miley.

"How exactly do you expect us to hunt someone we can't see?" asked Jackson.

Miley gave him a look and led him out. They snuck down a hall and came to a fork. "You go that way, I'll go this way," she whispered, pointing right then left. They split up. Miley heard activity in one room and looked through the window to see Amber and Ashley's cronies fixing their dresses.

"Should I wear my hair up?" Ashley asked.

"I don't know, Ash," Amber said, "Do you think my hem is right?"

Suddenly, Miley heard a flute playing and followed the sound.

Meanwhile, Giles was in the stacks. Suddenly, he heard a noise. He looked around. "Who's there?" He came to a glass bookcase and looked at his reflection. He turned around and saw Angel there and jumped. He looked back and forth between the Vampire with a soul and the glass bookcase that wouldn't show his reflection and then repeated this action a few times before realizing what was going on. "A Vampire casts no reflection."

"Don't worry, I'm not here to eat," said Angel.'

"Miley told me you don't feed off humans anymore."

"Not for a while now."

"Is that why you're here? To see her?"

"I can't. It's too hard for me to be around her."

"A Vampire and a Slayer in love. That's rather poetic…in a morbid sort of…What can I do for you?"

"I know you've been researching the Master."

"Yes, the Vampire king. I've tried to learn as much as I can for the day Miley faces him."

"Something's already in motion. Something big. You've read all the Slayer lore, right?"

"Yes, but some files are lost. The Tiberius Manifesto, the Pergamum Codex-"

"The Codex? That's not lost, it's misplaced. I can get it for you."

Giles sighed. "That'd be most helpful! My own volumes have been rather useless lately."

Angel then noticed Giles' book. "Legends of Vishnu?"

"There's an invisible girl terrorizing the school. It's rather a wonderful power to possess."

"I don't know. Looking in the mirror everyday and seeing yourself…that's an overrated pleasure."

*** Flashback ***

A brunette girl was in the girls' bathroom.

Just as she was about to leave, in walked Ashley, Amber just behind her. "I swear that I am not sitting through another one of those boring Alumni lectures. I mean, 2 hours of 'My Trek through Nepal.' Hello! Nobody cares!"

"And did you see his toupee?" asked the girl, "It looked like a cabbage!"

"And the slides," Ashley continued, oblivious to the girl, "'There's a mountain. Here's another mountain. Now let's look at some mountains.'"

"You know, I think he only had 3 slides and he just kept using them over and over again!" Amber added.

"But did you see his toupee?" the girl asked again, "It was, like, the worst!"

"Excuse me, we're talking here," Ashley said, pushing the girl back without looking at her, "And did you see his toupee? Yeah, that's real! It looked like a cabbage!" Amber laughed and walked off with her.

*** End Flashback ***

"And the winner is Ashley DeWitt!" Snyder announced.

Ashley walked up to the pedestal in the quad. "I would like to thank you for making the right choice and I would like to thank Amber for being such a good friend and supporting me despite the fact that we were competing against each other."

Oliver and Lilly walked up to Miley on the balcony.

"Giles said you'd be here," Lilly said.

"Well, last night was a bust," said Miley.

Lilly handed her a sheet of paper. "This is the dead and missing kids list." She then noticed 2 guys in suits in the quad. _Did Amber and Ashley hire bodyguards?_

"Hey, check out the most recent," said Miley, "Marcie Ross."

"I don't know her," said Lilly.

"Never heard of her," said Oliver.

"Her only activity was band. She played the flute. I heard a flute playing in the halls last night. And I lost Miss Invisible in the band room yesterday. I'll go check it out." With that, Miley ran off to the band room. She looked around and noticed the ceiling hatch. She moved a desk to just under the hatch and stepped onto it, opening the hatch and crawling in. She came to a skylight and saw a little hideout. She looked at the things Marcie had laid out: her flute, some sheet music…and a yearbook. "Bingo."

* * *

While all this was going on, Ms. Miller was alone in her classroom. "Ashley, can't you possibly be on time?" Suddenly, the door closed itself. "Hello? Who's there?" Before she could turn around, Marcie wrapped a plastic bag around the teacher's head and started to suffocate her.

After a short while, Ashley walked in. "Ms. Miller?" She then noticed the teacher slumped over the desk. "Ms. Miller!" She ran over and pulled off the bag, making the teacher gasp for breath and start coughing. "What happened?"

"Attacked. Didn't see who."

Suddenly, they heard a noise behind them and turned to see the chalk finish writing "listen" on the chalkboard.

* * *

"A nest?" Giles asked Miley in the library later.

"It looked like she'd been there for months," Miley explained, "It's where I found this." She put the yearbook on the table and opened it.

Lilly looked at the signatures. "'Have a nice summer.' 'Have a nice summer.' This girl had absolutely no friends at all!"

"Uh…once again I'm a generation behind," Giles said.

"'Have a nice summer' is what you write when you have nothing to say," Miley explained. She looked at the signatures… "Lilly? Oliver? Are you sure you didn't know Marcie Ross?"

"Positive," Oliver said.

"Never seen her before, why?" Lilly inquired.

"Because you both wrote it, too," Miley said, showing them their signatures.

"'Have a nice…' Oh…" Oliver said.

"Where am I?" asked Lilly. Everyone else pointed it out. "Oh! 'Have a _great_ summer!' I actually cared!"

"Well, I've never seen this girl in my life!" Oliver said, "I probably only ever saw her once, to sign this book! I mean, it's a big school-"

Lilly looked at the printouts. "Oliver, we each had 4 classes with her last year!"

"That's it!" Miley realized, "Since nobody noticed her, she turned invisible!"

"Of course!" Giles figured out, "I've been examining invisibility from mystical causes when I should have been looking at quantum mechanics!" Everyone looked at him. "Physics! It's a basic concept that reality is formed, even created, by our own perception."

"And with the Hell-Mouth below us sending out mystical energy…" Jackson added.

"…then since people saw her as invisible, she became so," Giles finished for him.

*** Flashback ***

"So how knows the answer to this one?" Ms. Miller asked her class. Several students, especially Marcie, raised their hands. "Ashley?"

"Well," Ashley said, "just because the story's about him doesn't mean he'd the hero."

"Exactly, so what does that make him?" Marcie raised her hand again. "Lilly?"

"The protagonist," Lilly answered.

Oliver raised his hand.

"Oliver?"

"Why can't he be both? I mean, he did some things that were pretty heroic."

"Exactly. Any other thoughts?"

Marcie raised her hand for every question, but every time, Ms. Miller pointed to someone else. Finally, Marcie became frustrated and then noticed that her hand was becoming translucent and then finally transparent.

*** End Flashback ***

"This isn't some great power she can control," Miley reasoned, "It's something that was done to her."

"That _we_ did to her," Lilly said, "No wonder she's upset."

"So what does she want?" asked Jackson.

"Same thing we thought," Miley said, showing them Ashley's picture in the yearbook, "Ashley." They looked at the picture and saw how Marcie had messed it up and then all turned to the door and saw it opening to reveal Ashley.

"What? I knew you'd be here." Ashley walked closer. "Look, Miley, I realize we've had our differences, what with you being so weird, attacking Amber, and hanging out with these total losers…" Lilly and Oliver gasped silently. "Anyway, despite all that, I know that deep down we share that same feeling for each other-"

"Nausea?" asked Lilly.

"SOMEBODY IS AFTER ME!" Ashley said, "They tired to kill Ms. Miller! She was helping me with my homework. And Mitch? And Amber! This is all about me! ME, ME, ME!"

"Wow, she's actually right this time," said Oliver.

"Look, I need your help!" Ashley said, "You guys are always around when all this weird stuff is happening. And you're strong, Miley, and you've got all these weapons…I was kind of hoping you were in a gang." Miley just looked at her. "PLEASE? I don't have anywhere else to turn to!"

"Please, sit down," Giles said. Ashley sighed with gratitude and sat next to Jackson.

"Well, hello there," Jackson said, scooting his arm around her. Ashley recoiled in disgust and sat on the other side of Miley.

"You know, I don't recall ever seeing you here before," said Giles.

"Oh no, I have a life," said Ashley.

"Alright," Miley said, "Time to fill you in. Your attacker's an invisible girl."

"Who is really, really angry at you," said Oliver, "Probably has something to do something you did during your mean girl streak in Amber's place last year."

"Look, I don't care what it is, just GET RID OF IT!" Ashley demanded.

"It's not that easy," said Miley, "It's…" She showed Ashley Marcie's yearbook picture, "It's this girl. If you know who it is-"

"I've never seen this girl before in my life!" Ashley said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marcie was in the crawl space. "You didn't see it coming, Ashley. You're worse than Amber. You and all your idiot friends. I hate them all! They take your life and they suck it out of you! They gotta learn…they're gonna learn…"

* * *

"According to what you've told us about the attack on Ms. Miller," Giles told Ashley, "we now have 2 messages from Marcie: 'Look' and 'Listen.'"

"Neither of which make any sense!" Lilly objected.

"I don't think we're supposed to understand yet," said Miley, "But from what Marcie did with Ashley's picture, I'd say she's _really_ mad about the whole May Queen thing."

"Maybe she's gonna try to stop the coronation tonight," Lilly suggested.

"Alright, nothing is keeping me from the Bronze tonight," said Ashley, "If I'm not crowned tonight, then Marcie's won! And she's evil! Way more evil than me and Amber!"

"Look, Ashley has a point," said Miley, "Continuing the normal May Queen activities may be the best way to draw Marcie out. We can use Ashley as bait."

"Great!" Ashley said, "Wait, what?"

Of course, none of them knew that Marcie was in the stacks.

"Lilly, Oliver, Jackson," Giles said, "you'll help me find a way to reverse Marcie's invisibility. If we can't then Miley will be-"

"—a sitting duck," Miley finished for him. She got up from her chair and dragged Ashley off. "Come on."

"Well, I have to put on my dress," Ashley said, "Am I really bait?" After a minute in the hall with Miley, she calmed down. "So this girl has been spying on us all for months, learning our most guarded secrets?" Miley nodded. "And she's only invisible because she's so unpopular?"

"That about sums it up."

"Wow. It's awful to feel that lonely."

"Oh, so you've read something about that feeling?"

Ashley scoffed. "You think that just because I'm friends with Ashley means I've never felt alone?"

"Yes!"

"Hey! I can be surrounded by friends and feel completely alone! Sometimes I think Amber is just friends with me because she feels that way, but I…I've never truly been friends with her at all. And she's my only real friend. Everyone else is just in it for the popularity and they're all on Amber. Sometimes I feel like…when I talk, everyone's so busy agreeing with me and Amber that they don't even hear a word either of us is saying."

"Wow. I never thought about it like that. So, wait, why are you so focused on be 'popular' if you feel so alone?"

"Beats being alone all by yourself."

* * *

In the library, Lilly and the guys were researching.

Suddenly, Lilly heard a flute playing. "Hey, guys? You hear that?" Everyone stopped reading and started to follow the sound.

"Maybe we can talk to her," Giles told them as they came closer, "Or maybe try to grab her?"

"There are 3 of us," said Lilly.

"Let's do it!" Jackson said.

* * *

Miley opened the door of a mop closet.

Ashley looked in, kind of disgusted. "If you tell anyone that I changed in a mop closet, especially Amber-"

"Your secret dies with me, just get in there!" Miley pushed her in and closed the door behind her.

* * *

The 3 guys and Lilly came down the stairs to the basement and followed the sound of the flute through some heavy metal doors, going in to the boiler room.

"Marcie?" Giles called, "We know what's happened to you. Can we talk to you?"

"We're sorry we ignored you!" Lilly said.

Jackson then realized where the sound was coming from and pulled a tape recorder out from between 2 pipes. "Can you say 'uh oh'?"

The 4 then realized their gullibility and, suddenly, the doors shut and locked themselves. Suddenly (again), they heard a hissing noise.

* * *

"You know what you were saying before?" Miley asked Ashley through the door to the mop closet, "I understand. Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how popular you are-"

"You were popular? In what alternate universe?"

"Nashville. Anyway, I did sort of feel like something was missing."

"Is that why you got weird and got yourself kicked out?"

"Ashley, can we have a heartfelt talk with a little less talk from you?" Miley's attitude changed completely when no reply came. "Ashley?" She opened the door and saw Ashley being pulled through the ceiling. "Ashley!" She tried to pull her back down but couldn't, so she jumped up there and followed her.

* * *

"It's gas," Giles explained when he saw the pipes' strange behavior, "She's snuffed out the pilot light! I could shut it off, but I can't find the valve."

Oliver then noticed the valve on the floor and picked it up. "Uh, is this it?"

"OK, that's bad," said Lilly, taking it, "What about the door?"

Jackson and Oliver looked at each other, shrugged, and slammed into the door. All they got was sore shoulders. Jackson got frustrated, picked up a spare pipe, and prepared to swing at the doors.

"NO!" Giles stopped him, "1 spark will take the whole building with us."

* * *

Finally, Miley found Ashley lying unconscious in the crawl space. "Ashley!" She tried to shake the mean girl awake, but Marcie came up behind her with a needle and injected her, knocking her out cold.

Miley woke up tied to the May King throne in backstage of the Bronze.

"Miley? Are you awake?"

Miley turned to see Ashley tied to the May Queen throne. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I can't feel my face!"

"What?"

"My face is numb! What is she doing?"

"I don't know…"

Ashley then noticed the word "learn" written in glitter on the stage curtains. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know…"

* * *

Giles was able to turn the valve a little with his bare hands. "That should give us a few minutes. But if we don't get out of this room soon…"

"Why is Marcie doing this?" asked Lilly.

"The loneliness…the constant exile…it's driven her mad!"

"You think?" Jackson asked, sarcastically, coughing as soon as he said it.

* * *

Marcie sighed, wheeling a tray covered in a cloth over to Miley and Ashley. "I'm disappointed. I'd really hoped you guys would figure this out by now."

"Well, why don't you explain it?" Miley asked, "What are we supposed to learn?"

"You don't get it, do you? You're not the student, you're the lesson."

Ashley stomped her foot. "What'd you do to my face?"

"That's what this is all about, isn't it? Your face. Your beautiful face. That's what makes you shine just a little bit brighter than the rest of us. We all want what you have. To be noticed…to be remembered…to be seen."

"What are you doing?" Ashley asked, slightly scared now.

"Well, I'm fulfilling your fondest wish." Marcie pulled the cloth off the tray, revealing several surgical instruments and making Ashley gasp. "I'm going to give you a face that no one will ever forget."

* * *

Lilly slumped down by the wall, coughing and weakened by the lack of oxygen.

Giles took his jacket off and wrapped it around the leaking pipe to prevent sparks and then went over to Oliver and Jackson to help them ram the door down. "1…2…3!" They all slammed into the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Again!" Same results.

* * *

"Marcie, you can't do this," Miley said.

"What are you gonna do?" Marcie asked, "Slay me?"

"You know what you're doing is wrong-" Miley stopped talking when Marcie punched her in the face.

"You should have stayed out of my way from the start. I was hoping you'd understand my vision, being tortured by her like the rest of us, but you're just like them." Marcie picked up a scalpel and turned back to Ashley, who was whimpering in fright. "You should be grateful. People who pass you on the street are gonna remember you for the rest of their lives. And everyone who attends the coronation tonight will take the sight of the May Queen to their graves."

"Wait!" Ashley tried to stop her, not even noticing Miley pulling against her restraints.

"No, we really have to get started! The anesthetic's gonna wear off soon and I don't want you to faint. It's more fun when your awake. Let's see…let's start with your smile. I think it should be wider."

"Look, Marcie, you think I don't understand, but I do!"

"Oh, yeah, I know you do. I heard you. 'I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone.' You're just another pathetic, spoiled little brat and you think you can charm your way out of this, don't you? ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU THINK?" She cut Ashley's cheek open with the scalpel. "I see right through you."

Miley finally freed her legs and kicked the tray into Marcie, making her stumble into the curtains. She pulled the rest of the ropes off and got up. Before she could untie Ashley, though, Marcie got up and kicked her back.

* * *

Lilly was starting black out. Oliver fainted next to her while Jackson and Giles kept [weakly] pushing the door. Suddenly, the door opened and the 2 guys fell through, revealing Angel on the other side.

Angel helped Jackson and Giles up and they pulled Oliver away while Angel picked up Lilly and carried her out, closing the doors behind them.

"What happened?" Oliver asked, woozily, as he just woke up.

"You tell me," Angel said.

"Oh, it's you," Oliver said, noticing him.

Angel shook Lilly a little as he put her down.

"I'm up, Mom!"

"Why-" Giles started.

"I brought you your Codex," Angel explained, handing him the book, "I came in through the basement and smelled the gas."

Giles took the book. "Well, shut it off! Otherwise, the whole building-"

"I'll get it!" Angel said, "It's not like I need the oxygen." He ran in and the others left.

* * *

Miley got up. "You know, I actually felt sorry for you. You've suffered. There's just one thing I didn't factor into all this: you're a thundering loony!" Marcie kicked her again. She tried to get up again, but Marcie hit her again. Miley got up again, guessed where Marcie was, and took a punch at that spot…hitting nothing.

"Newsflash," Marcie said, "I'm invisible! You can't fight something you can't see!" She kicked Miley back slightly.

Ashley was in hysterics and wouldn't stop panting.

Miley finally thought of something. "Ashley, shut up!" Ashley stopped. Miley closed her eyes and listened for sound, making out the sound of a floorboard creaking behind her as Marcie walked. Miley quickly spun around and punched Marcie in the face, knocking her in the curtains so that they covered her. "I see you!" She kicked Marcie again, knocking her down.

Suddenly, the side door opened and in came a FBI guy, followed by some back-up. "Everybody stay where you are!" He ran over and put Marcie in handcuffs. "We'll take it from here, ma'am," the agent said to Miley.

"Take what from where?" Miley asked, confused.

"I'm Agent Manetti from the FBI," the agent explained, "We're here for the girl." He started to untie Ashley.

"Where were you 10 minutes ago when she was playing surgeon?" Ashley asked.

"Sorry, we came as fast as we could," said Manetti, freeing Ashley as 2 other agents dragged Marcie off, "We can't cure Marcie here, but we can rehabilitate her. In time, she'll learn to be a useful member of society again."

"This isn't the first time it's happened?" Miley asked, "It's happened at other schools?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that," said Manetti, "It would be best for you to forget this whole incident ever happened. Thanks for you help and have a nice day." With that, he walked off.

* * *

"I just can't believe how twisted Marcie got," Miley said the next morning in the library, "By the way, how'd you guys get out of the boiler room?"

Lilly took this one. "Uh, the janitor found us and shut off the valve. Strong fellow, that guy! But, still, we were lucky."

"I'll say," said Miley. Ashley then came in. "Uh, hey!"

"Look, uh," Ashley said, "I didn't get a chance to say anything last night what with the coronation and all, but…I just wanted to say thank you. All of you."

"That's weird," said Oliver, "She looks like Ashley." Lilly smacked him.

"Well, you really helped me and you didn't even have to!" Ashley continued, "So…thanks."

"It's OK," said Lilly, "Listen, we're gonna grab lunch in a few minutes, so if you want to join-"

She was interrupted by Mitch, who came in almost fully healed. "Whoa, you're not hanging out with these losers, are you?"

Ashley looked at him. "What, me? Hang out with them? Puh-lease! I was just being charitable and helping them out with their fashion problems." She started to walk off with him. "Do you really think I'd join that social leper colony?"

"Man, where's an invisible girl when you need one?" Jackson asked.

* * *

Manetti led Marcie to a classroom in an FBI building. "I think you'll be happy in here. You should fit right in."

Marcie didn't respond, but still walked into the classroom, the only person visible in which was the teacher.

"Ah, welcome, Marcie," said the teacher, "Class, this is Marcie."

"Hi, Marcie," said the invisible class.

"OK, Marcie, sit down," said the teacher, gesturing to an empty seat, which Marcie promptly but slowly sat in, "And let's turn to page 54."

Marcie turned the pages of the book on her desk to 54, the title of which read "Chapter 11, Assassination and Infiltration." "Cool."


	12. Prophecy Girl

Chapter 12: Prophecy Girl

"You know how I feel about you," Oliver said, sitting next to Lilly, who was listening to him, dreamily, at a table at the Bronze, "It's pretty obvious, isn't it? There's never been anyone else for me. And we're good friends, so I think it's time to take the next step. Would you, uh…date me?" Oliver scoffed. "Oh, yeah, that's clever! 'Date me!' It's terrible, right?"

Lilly came back to earth. "What? Oh, yeah. 'Date me' is silly…"

"Man, where's Miley?" Oliver looked around. "She was supposed to be here! I'm freaking out! I gotta do it now!"

"Well, Miley's not here, maybe you should practice on me some more!"

"No, I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm just wondering why Miley's late!"

* * *

Miley rolled over in the graveyard. "Alright, buddy, I gotta meet my friends! I don't have time for this!" She jumped up and kicked the Vampire in the face. She pulled out a stake and dusted him. "Man, 3 in one night! Giles would be so proud."

* * *

Giles was, meanwhile, in the library, researching. "'The Master shall rise,'" he translated, "Yes, that's right. 'The Master shall rise, and the Slayer shall…' Oh, no." Suddenly, the whole building started shaking.

* * *

Miley fell over in the graveyard before she could make her way to the Bronze. She looked around and saw a tree falling over as a result of the quake and rolled out of the way before it could fall on her.

* * *

Lilly and Oliver felt the Bronze shaking, too.

"Get under the table!" Lilly instructed Oliver, getting out of her chair and under their table, Oliver following closely behind.

* * *

"YES!" the Master said, "Shake, earth. You are witnessing your final days. My time has come!" The earthquake stopped and he turned to Collin. "What do you think? A little too much?"

* * *

Miley came into the library the next day and saw Giles in the cage. "Hey, Giles." Giles looked at her like he'd seen a Ghost. She looked around. "Damage looks fairly sound. Are we safe here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yes, we're fine, just don't go into the stacks."

"Are you OK?" Miley asked, concerned, "Did you get _any_ sleep last night?"

"I was working."

"Yeah, me, too. I went patrolling last night before heading to the Bronze, just to be safe, and ran into 3 Vamps, which I dusted, of course, but it's getting pretty hairy out there."

"Their numbers are increasing," Giles said, reading a book and not listening.

"And they're getting cockier. Last night was a close call." Giles nodded. "In fact, I think I might as well let them loose in the school and hope that they eat Amber and Ashley."

"Yes, yes, very good."

Miley slammed her bag on the table, getting his attention. "Giles, you're not even listening!" This is when he went back to reading, which Miley didn't even notice, too caught up in her rant. "OK, I'm putting my life on the line battling the undead here. I broke a nail! I'm wearing a press-on! The least you could do is exhibit some casual interest? Maybe go 'hmm.'"

Giles looked at her. "Hmm?" Miley gave him a look. "Sorry, I'm a little distracted. But I'm very glad you're alright. I just really can't talk right now."

"Fine," Miley said, grabbing her bag, "I can't put it off any longer, anyway. I must meet my horrible fate."

Giles looked at her again, this time afraid, stunned, and concerned all at the same time. "What?"

"Biology." Miley walked off.

* * *

"Wow, that was boring," Miley said, coming out of class with Lilly and Oliver.

"I don't feel boring covers it," said Oliver.

"I know," Lilly added, "Even I was bored. And I'm the science nerd!"

"Uh, Lilly," Oliver said, "Don't you have a thing?"

Lilly looked at him. "What?" He gave her a look. "Oh! My thing! Yeah, I have to go!" She ran off.

"Uh, Miley," Oliver said, gesturing to a bench in the quad, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, Oliver," Miley said, walking over to the bench and sitting down.

Oliver sat down next to her. "So, uh, the Spring Fling. It's a time for students to gather and…converse and all that stuff. Oh, and dance, of course, I mean—Oh, I'm such an idiot! Miley, I want you to go to the dance with me!"

Miley looked at him for a few seconds. "I-I don't know what to say. I…I, honestly, really don't think about you like that, Oliver. I always thought we were just friends. Really good friends." Oliver just stared at her. "And…I was kind of hoping we could _stay_…just friends."

"Oh." Oliver stood up. "Well, I guess I should have seen it coming. A guy's gotta be undead for you to spend a reasonable amount of time with him."

"Oliver-"

"No, really, I'm cool with this. I'll just…go home and…spend the weekend listening to country music." He walked off.

Miley stared after him, just hoping there was something she could do.

* * *

Ms. Calendar came into the library. "Hey, Rupert."

Giles looked at her. "Oh, uh…hello, Ms. Calendar."

Ms. Calendar stopped walking and took a good look at him. "You know, that outfit looks just like the one you wore yesterday, only wrinklier. Were you here all night?"

"Uh, actually, I…yes."

"Let me cut to the chase on why I'm here: People keep sending stuff my way. They know the occult's my turf. This is just the latest." She held up her papers and started to read them. "A cat, last week, gave birth to a litter of snakes." She went over to the table and laid the paper on it and then paraphrased the next one. "4 days ago, a family was swimming in Whisper Lake when the water suddenly began to boil." She laid that paper on the table. "And last night, at Mercy Hospital, a baby was born with its eyes facing inward." She slammed the stack of sheets on the table. "I'm not stupid, Rupert, this is apocalyptic stuff. Throw in last night's earthquake and I'd say the end is pretty nigh. Plus, some crazy monk from West Virginia e-mailed me about the rising of some Anointed One."

"The Anointed One? But he's dead."

"Someone's dead?"

"Uh…who is this monk?" Giles asked, rapidly changing the subject.

"Uh…Brother Luca or something. Keeps saying things about a prophecy. My point is, you haven't told me anything!"

"Just help me contact this monk. I'll explain later."

"You'd better."

* * *

"I'll get everything tonight after practice," a boy told Ashley, "The guys will help."

"Well, it's all in the AV room, Kevin," Ashley told him, "The sound system, the decorations…oh, I almost forgot! Aura needs some help with the coolers."

"Don't sweat it."

"Great! Just bring everything to the Bronze. I'll meet you there in the morning."

"Done."

Ashley smiled. "You're so sweet. Why are you so sweet?"

"I don't know. I'm usually mean as a snake!"

Ashley giggled and then caught sight of Lilly. "Lilly!" She turned to Kevin. "I'll see you later." She ran after Lilly. "Truscott! I love what you've done with your hair!"

"I'm wearing a hat," Lilly said, suspiciously.

"Oh. Well, I really like your outfit!"

"No, you don't!"

"No, I really don't, but I need a favor! The Bronze won't let us use their sound system so we need someone who knows how to hook one up. If you could just show up there tomorrow morning, I'd be really, really grateful!"

"Is Amber not helping?"

"No, it's specifically the duty of the May Queen to work on stuff like this. So could you help me?"

"Sure! OK!" She then noticed Oliver bouncing a ball against the wall of a nearby classroom. "I'll see you in the morning." She walked into the classroom. "Oliver?"

"Hey, Lil." Oliver bounced the ball again.

"How'd it go?"

"On a scale of 1 to 10? I stunk." Bounce.

"Oh. What'd she say?"

"Apart from 'no' and 'I just wanna be friends'? Does it really matter?" Bounce. He threw the ball so hard this time that it rebounded fast enough to pound him in the face and knock him out of his chair. Lilly ran over and helped him up. "She's still into Angel. She could care less about me."

"Oliver! At least now you know."

"Yeah, I guess. Hey! Why don't you go with me? You can be my date! We can get the dance…possibly make Miley jealous as a bonus…what do you say?"

"No!"

"That's g—What?"

"Do you really want me to go to the dance with you and watch you wish you were with her? I'm not your second, last resort, wingman, or the girl you use to make your ex jealous! Obviously, you don't wanna be with me." Lilly walked out, almost crying.

Oliver picked up the ball. "Guess it's back to country music. The music of pain and agony."

* * *

Meanwhile, Miley had locked herself in a stall in the girls' bathroom and was playing with a stake. She finally decided she wanted to go home and got out. She stuffed her stake in her pack and went to wash her hands…but when she turned on the faucet, water came out. She ran out of the bathroom and into the library. "Giles is not gonna believe this." But she stopped running and slowed down to a walk and finally stopped moving completely when she heard Giles talking to someone else in his office.

"…It's clear. It's what's going to happen!"

Miley peeked through the door and saw Angel in there. She leaned back slightly to stay out of their range of vision and smiled.

"No, it can't be!" Angel argued, "You've gotta be wrong!"

"I've checked all the other volumes and they all say the same things to support it. It's very real."

"Well, then there's gotta be some way around it!"

"Look, some prophecies are a bit dodgy at best. There may very well be a way around it but it's not a way I can see right now. This is the cold, hard truth! Miley is going to go up against the Master tomorrow night…and she will die."

Miley's eyes widened. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Suddenly, she felt herself bursting into laughter.

The 2 guys stopped talking and looked out the door to see Miley standing at the table.

"So that's it, huh?" Miley asked, "I remember the drill. One Slayer dies, another one gets called. Wonder who she is." She moved her head just enough to glance at Giles over her shoulder. "Are you going to train her? Or is someone else gonna do it?"

"Miley, I-" He stopped talking when Miley whirled around to face him. The girl he saw was suddenly blonde with different colored eyes. He glanced at Angel, who seemed to be seeing it, too.

"Do they say how he's gonna kill me?" the girl asked in a voice slightly higher then Miley's, "Do you think it's gonna hurt?"

Angel walked over to her, but she stepped back and turned back to Miley.

"Don't touch me!"

Angel stepped back, slightly stunned at what had just happened.

Miley turned back to Giles. "Were you even gonna tell me?"

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to," Giles explained, still trying to comprehend whether he was seeing things or not, "that there was some way around it."

"Oh, I've got a way around it. I quit!"

"It's not that simple-" Angel started.

"I'm making it that simple! I quit! I resign! I-I'm fired!"

"Miley, all the signs indicate-" Giles started.

"The signs?" Miley turned around to grab a book from the table and turned back as the blonde girl, who threw a book at Giles, who ducked. "READ ME THE SIGNS!" The girl threw another book at him. "TELL ME MY FORTUNE!" Giles ducked again and came back up to Miley. "You're so useful sitting in here with all your books. You're really a lot of help!"

"No," Giles said, "I don't suppose I am."

"I know this is hard for you-" Angel started.

"How can you?" Miley interrupted again, "You're never gonna die!"

"You think this is easy for me? I can't stand to see anything happen to you! We've gotta figure out a way to-"

"I did already! I quit, remember? Pay attention!"

"Miley," Giles said, "if the Master rises-"

"I don't care!" Miley was clearly starting to tear up. "I'm 16, Giles. I don't wanna die!" She yanked her cross necklace off and threw it on the ground as she ran out.

* * *

Lilly was at her desk studying. She finally smacked her pencil onto her desk and picked up her cell phone. She dialed Oliver's number and listened to it ring, waiting for him to pick up.

* * *

(Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Break-y Heart" is playing in background)

…_Don't tell my heart_

_My achy break-y heart…_

Oliver was lying on his bed. He heard his cell phone ring, took it out of his pocket, hit the ignore button, and then turned it off completely.

_I just don't think he'd understand…

* * *

_

(Clique Girlz' "I Decide" is playing on radio)

Miley was reading a book in her room.

…_I decide_

_How I live_

_I decide_

_Who I love_

_Choice is mine_

_And no one gets to make my mind up_

_I decide_

Robbie knocked on her door and came in. "Hey, honey." Miley said nothing. He just walked in and closed the door.

_I decide_

_Where I go_

_What I need_

_Who I know_

_I'm the_

_One who's_

_Running my life_

_I decide…_

Robbie sat down next to her on the bed. "You OK?" Miley nodded. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Let's go away!" Miley suddenly blurted out, closing the book and throwing it across the room.

"What?"

"Let's go back to Tennessee or…maybe actually spend some real time on the beach or book Hannah for a surprise performance or something, let's just get out of here! And fast! And let's not bring Jackson with us!"

"Whoa! Isn't your prom tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, but they call it the Spring Fling for sophomores."

"Let me guess: you don't wanna go 'cause no one asked you."

Miley thought about it. "Yeah, that's it." She sighed. "I just can't go."

"Why not? Is it written somewhere? Look, homecoming, my freshman year of high school, nobody asked me, the girls I asked turned me down, including your mom. I ended up going anyway."

"And you still had a great time?"

"What? Oh, no, it was awful, but then I started singing and got this head of hair and the rest was all a blur." Miley just looked at him. "Alright, time to bring out the big guns. I was saving this for the right time, but under the circumstances…" He got up, went over to the closet, opened it, and pulled out a flowing, crystal white, spaghetti-strap dress.

Miley gasped silently and got up, going over to feel the velvet belt and examine the dress. "Daddy, it's beautiful!"

"I know that you wanted me to stop buying you clothes for presents after the kitty sweater I got you for your 14th birthday, but I saw this and I thought of you. I had to get it! If you want me to return it, though-"

"No, it…it's perfect." Miley took it, held it up, looked in the mirror, and then laid it down on the bed. "I love you, Daddy." She hugged him. _I want you to know that before I die._

…_Choice is mine_

_And no one gets to make my mind up_

_I decide

* * *

_

Ashley ran up to Lilly in the school building the next morning. "Kevin said he'd bring everything to the Bronze last night! He promised! We'll never get everything ready in time!"

"Whoa, wait! He didn't show?" Ashley shook her head. "Look, he probably forgot. It's not that big a deal."

"You don't understand…I'm not mad! He totally flaked and I…I think it's cute!"

Lilly smiled and led Ashley to the AV room. They could see Kevin and his friends through the window in the door.

"There they are!" Ashley said, "Oh, they're watching cartoons! That is so…" She noticed Lilly's look and scoffed. "…stupid. And annoying!"

"Right." Lilly opened the door. She walked in, Ashley close behind, and then noticed that the boys were dead. "Oh my-" She was panting so heavily she couldn't say anymore.

Ashley could feel herself welling up. "Kevin!" She started shaking the body, hoping that he wasn't dead. "Come on, Kevin! Oh, please, no…"

Lilly then noticed something…there was a handprint of blood on the TV screen.

* * *

Miley looked at herself in her mirror. She was absolutely gorgeous in her new dress.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Jackson ran in. "Miley! There's something on the news. Lilly…"

Miley didn't need to hear anymore. She ran out of her room to see what was going on.

* * *

Miley was in Lilly's room. The 2 girls were sitting on Lilly's bed, talking.

"I've seen a lot of things, Miley," Lilly was saying, "I thought that, since I have you, I could handle anything. But that room…Miley, I just can't…"

"It's OK," Miley said, hugging her friend, "I'll stop this."

"Miley, I'm not OK! I knew those guys! I go to that room everyday. But when I walked in there…it wasn't our world anymore. They made it theirs. And they had fun." It was then that Lilly started crying. "I can't take this. What are we gonna do?"

"What we have to," Miley said, "Promise me you'll stay in tonight?" As soon as Lilly nodded, Miley got up and started to walk off.

"Miley?" Miley turned to face her friend, who smiled. "I like your dress."

Miley smiled. "Take care." She left.

* * *

Giles laid some weapons on the table of the library.

"OK," Ms. Calendar summarized, "So this Master guy tried to open the Hell-Mouth. But he got stuck in it. And now all the signs are reading that he's gonna get out, which opens the Hell-Mouth, which brings the demon, which ends the world."

"That about sums it up, yes," Giles said, testing a crossbow.

"See, the part I'm having trouble getting past is where Miley is the Vampire Slayer," Ms. Calendar continued, "She seems more of the singer type to me."

"I'm not surprised," Giles said, laying down the crossbow and picking up an ax, "She's Hannah Montana."

"You're serious?" Ms. Calendar asked, "The hit teen pop sensation?" Giles nodded. "Wow. Anyway, I tried to contact Brother Luca and, apparently, no one can. He's disappeared. He did send out one last global, though, referring to the Anointed One: 'Isaiah 11:6,' which I dutifully looked up." She picked up the Bible lying on the table and started to read: "'The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.'"

"He thinks the Anointed One is a child?" Giles asked, to which Ms. Calendar nodded, "Well, I suppose that if the Vampire Miley killed was, in fact, not the Anointed, then he very well may be a child."

"We need to warn her, then," Ms. Calendar said.

"No, we don't," Giles intercepted, putting down the ax and reloading the crossbow, "Miley not facing the Master. I am."

"No, you're not." The 2 looked to see Miley standing in the doorway of the library. "So I'm looking for a kid, huh? He'll lead me to the Master?"

"Miley, I'm not gonna send you out there to die!" Giles objected, not bothering to drop the crossbow before going over to her, "Now you were right. I've waded in these old books for so long, it's time I did something for a change!"

"You're still not facing the Master!"

"I've made up my mind!"

"So have I."

"Well, I made up mine first! Now I am older and wiser than you. Can't you just, once, do as you're told?"

Miley crossed her arms. "Fine. I won't do it." She pretended to turn around to leave and then quickly whirled around and punched him in the face, knocking him out. Ms. Calendar rushed over to him. "When he wakes up, tell him I'm sorry!" She grabbed the crossbow and started to run out.

"If you go up against the Master tonight, you'll die!" Ms. Calendar reminded her.

"Maybe…" Miley cocked the crossbow. "Or maybe I'll take him with me." She left the library, allowing Ms. Calendar to turn her attention to Giles. Miley left the school building and found Collin outside.

"Help me," Collin whimpered.

Miley lowered her crossbow and went over to him. "It's OK. I know who you are." Collin looked at her and then took her hand and led her off.

* * *

"She what?" Jackson exclaimed.

"She went to fight the Master," Giles said, sitting in one of the chairs in the library and holding an ice bag to his head where Miley had punched him.

"I heard you the first time, I just can't believe she'd so that!"

"Guys, we need to stay calm!" Lilly said.

"'Calm'?" Oliver shouted, "She knew about this prophecy thing! I'm not gonna take this sitting down!" Oliver stood up and turned to Giles. "How could you let her go?"

"The soon-to-be purple area of my jaw would attest that I did _not_ 'LET' her go!" Giles objected.

"Uh, sorry to bring it up," Ms. Calendar intercepted, "but don't we also have an apocalypse to worry about? Once the Master gets free, the Hell-Mouth opens, the demons come to party and everybody dies."

"Look, I don't care!" Oliver objected, "I gotta help Miley!"

"We don't even know where she is!" Lilly retorted.

Jackson then got an idea (which doesn't happen often). "No…but I know how we can find out."

* * *

Angel was at his apartment when he heard a knocking at the door. He opened the door and Oliver and Jackson came in. "Make yourselves at home," he said, sarcastically as he closed the door.

"She's gone," Jackson said.

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"Miley!" Oliver shouted, "She's gone to fight the Master!"

"He'll kill her!" Angel said.

"Rumor has it," Jackson said, "Look, she's my little sister. I have to protect her. I can't let her die."

"So we have to find this Master guy," Oliver said, "He's underground, right? Take us to him."

"You 2 are way out of your leagues," Angel debated, "The Master will kill both of you before you can even breathe. If you're lucky!"

Oliver pushed Jackson out of the way. "How can I say this clearly?" He pulled out a cross and held it up at Angel, who backed up and fell into his chair. "I don't like you. At the end of the day, I pretty much think you're just a Vampire. But Miley really likes you. She thinks you're a real person. Right now, I need you to prove her right."

Angel looked up at him. "You're in love with her."

"Aren't you?"

Jackson looked at him. "Whoa, dude, you're in love with my sister?"

"Get over it."

* * *

Collin led Miley into the Master's lair.

"Welcome."

Miley whirled around to see the Master and she quickly lifted the crossbow up at him. "Thanks for having me." She glanced back at Collin to see that he was leaving. "You know, you really ought to talk to your contractor. Looks like you've got some water damage."

"Ooh, the witty banter portion of the fight," the Master said, "Why don't we just cut to the-" He stopped when Miley launched the bolt of the crossbow and he grabbed the arrow just before it could pierce his heart. "Nice shot."

Miley quickly started to reload her crossbow.

* * *

"This way," Angel said, leading Jackson and Oliver through the sewers.

Jackson looked at him. "I saw that!"

"What?" Angel asked as he stopped walking, making the 2 boys stop walking as well.

"You were totally just checking out my neck!" Jackson said. Oliver looked back and forth between the 2 before finally hiding behind Jackson (who was, ironically, shorter than him).

"No, I wasn't!" Angel objected.

"Just keep your distance, pal!"

"I wasn't looking at your neck!"

"I told you to eat before we left!"

* * *

"Let's think about this," Giles said, "The Vampires have been gathering. They know he's coming. They're his army."

"Well," Ms. Calendar said, "they'll be gathering at the Hell-Mouth, right? Where is it?"

"Well," Lilly thought out loud, "the last time the Master tried to rise was the Harvest."

"And where'd that go down?"

Giles and Lilly looked at each other.

"The Bronze," Giles said.

"The prom!" Lilly realized.

"We have to warn them!" Giles started to get up, but Ms. Calendar pushed him back into his seat.

"We'll go, you stay here. You need to rest." She led Lilly out.

"Be careful and stay together!"

"We will!" Lilly called after him. Finally, they came to the courtyard outside the school. "What if they get to the Bronze before we do?"

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Ms. Calendar assured her.

"Why not?"

"Because they're not going to the Bronze."

The 2 girls looked around to see a hoard of Vampires coming toward them.

* * *

Miley was walking around the Master's lair, her crossbow loaded in her hands. "You know, for someone who's all powerful, you sure like to play hide-and-seek."

"I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last."

"Well, I don't!"

"I understand." The Master appeared, batted the crossbow out of her hands and grabbed her by the throat.

Miley quickly elbowed him in the nose and head-butted him, making him let go and allowing her to grab the crossbow and run. But the Master held his hand out at her and she suddenly couldn't move.

The Master pulled the crossbow away again and threw it across the lair. "You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything. You're the one that sets me free. If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. How about that?" He then grabbed her arms, pulled her long hair out of the way, and bit her neck. He let go after a few seconds. "Oh, the power!" Miley was getting woozy. "By the way…" He let her fall and she dropped into the pool of water, still unable to move and now unable to breathe. "…I like your dress." He walked over to his confines and broke through, releasing a burst of light and energy.

This made the 3 boys stop walking through the tunnels.

"He's free," Angel said, "We're too late." They looked at each other and then ran down the tunnel. They came to the lair to see that the Master was gone and Miley was still in the water. Angel ran over to her, pulled her out, and immediately started examining her. He felt for a pulse, listened for a heartbeat, and even smelt the air for fresh blood. _No, NO! It can't be! _He looked at Oliver and Jackson. "She's dead!"

"No!" Oliver said, "No, she can't be dead!"

"She's not breathing," Angel argued.

"Oh, man, Dad is gonna kill me!" Jackson said, to which both guys looked at him.

"Hey!" Oliver realized, "She drowned! There's still a shot! CPR!"

"One of you'll have to do it," Angel said, "I have no breath."

"Step aside," Jackson said, "She's my sister!" He knelt down and then backed off. "I can't do it! She's my sister!"

Oliver pushed him away. "Let me do it!" He knelt down next to Miley's body. "I've been waiting to do this for months." He kissed her. After a few seconds, he let go and pumping her chest. "Come on!"

* * *

"Why are they coming here?" Ms. Calendar asked.

"Not caring!" Lilly said, quickly backing up, pulling Ms. Calendar with her, and freaking out all the while.

Suddenly, a convertible pulled up and ran over several of the Vampires. The window rolled down to reveal Ashley, of all people, in the driver's seat. "Get in!"

* * *

Back in the Master's lair, Oliver kept trying to revive Miley. "Come on, Miley! Breathe! Breathe!"

_Come on… _Angel pleaded silently, _Come on!_

Just when Oliver was about to give up, Miley started coughing and her eyes opened.

_Oh, thank you! _Angel thought to no one in particular.

Oliver pushed Miley's hair away from her face and smiled as he looked her eyes. "Miley."

"Oliver?"

"Welcome back."

* * *

Lilly and Ms. Calendar loaded into Ashley's car.

"We've gotta get out of here!" Ms. Calendar said as the 2 girls rapidly put on their seat belts.

"Where to?" Ashley asked.

"The library!" Lilly instructed, "Fast!"

"Perfect." Ashley pounded her foot on the gas and turned a U-turn and drove through the doors of the school and through the halls to the library.

Giles heard the car approaching. "What in the-" He couldn't say anymore before the car burst through the doors, throwing them off their hinges.

The 3 girls quickly loaded out of the car as soon as they saw the Vampires coming.

"What's happening?" Giles asked.

"Guess!" Lilly said, pulling him into the stacks.

Giles stopped her when they came to the stairs and then noticed the Vampires. "Why are they coming here?" He then noticed a green tentacle squirming through a crack in the floor of the middle of the room.

* * *

"Easy," Angel said as he and Oliver helped Miley stand up.

"The Master?" Miley asked, feeling her strength returning.

"He's gone," Angel summarized. Miley started to walk off but he pulled her back. "You're still weak."

Miley smiled. "No. No, I'm really not. I feel good. I feel strong. I feel different." She noticed Jackson handing her the crossbow and took it. "Let's go."

* * *

Giles started to lead the girls out the back but then noticed… "They're coming in from the stacks!"

Lilly pulled off a loose board in the railing and used it to stake one of the Vamps and then locked the doors, but the others outside were still too strong. "The bookshelves!"

Ms. Calendar and Giles looked at each other and then moved a bookshelf to block the door, allowing Lilly to back off it…and then scream upon noticing the tentacles approaching her leg. Ashley had a similar reaction when a Vampire suddenly grabbed her and pulled her over the railing and onto the table.

* * *

Miley led her brother, best friend, and boyfriend (or close) to the school. A Vampire came up and tried to stop them. "Oh, look, a bad guy." She ran up to him, kicked him in the groin, and let the 3 guys through. She led them to the stairs leading to the roof. "You guys ready?" she asked, handing Oliver the crossbow.

Oliver cocked the crossbow. "I'm ready."

Jackson pulled a few stakes from his jacket pockets. "Me, too."

Miley looked at Angel. "This may get hairy. You might wanna put on your game face."

Angel turned to face them, this time in Vamp form. "I'm ready."

"Let's do this." Miley opened the doors. She started to head up to the roof. "Cover me!" The 3 guys waited at the bottom of the stairs, prepared for the battle.

* * *

Ashley head-butted the Vampire and then grabbed his hand and bit it. He screamed, let go, and ran off. "See how you like it!"

"This won't keep them out for long!" Lilly said, holding up the bookshelf with Ms. Calendar.

Ms. Calendar suddenly jumped as the tentacles wrapped around her leg. "RUPERT!"

Giles was staking the Vamps at the doors, but turned just in time to see a huge, green, 3-headed tentacle demon burst through the floor. "The Hell-Mouth's open!"

The Master was watching this through the skylight. "Yes, come forth, my child. Come into my world."

"I don't think it's yours just yet."

The Master turned to see Miley. "You! You're dead!"

"I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you."

"You were destined to die. It was written!"

"What can I say? I flunked the written." She jumped at him and kicked him in the face. She then bent down and whirled around, giving him a leg sweep and making him fall on the roof.

* * *

3 Vampires ran at Angel and Oliver and Jackson. Angel started to fight one, Oliver shot the crossbow at another, and the last one jumped onto Jackson's back. Jackson hooked his arm around and staked the Vamp from behind. Oliver's bolt hit the Vampire directly in the heart. Angel finally punched out the last Vamp.

* * *

Giles swung an ax at the creature and hit it straight on, but when he struck again, it swung one of its tentacles at him, launching him into the table. He jumped up, dropping the ax on the table and completely slicing it in 2, and then grabbed a sword and started to attack the creature again.

* * *

The Master knocked Miley onto the skylight. "Where are your friends now?" Miley looked through the skylight as she got up and noticed the bent table. "You laugh when my hell is on your earth? You're nothing compared to me! You'll never defeat me!"

Miley got up and came around so that she was in front of him and the skylight was behind him. "Allow me to just say…" She grabbed him by the neck. "…shut up!" She threw him through the skylight and he landed right on the table, thus staking him. He screamed as he slowly turned to dust.

The tentacle demon receded into the earth and the Vampires all ran.

* * *

Oliver, Jackson, Angel, and Miley came into the library to check on Ms. Calendar, Giles, Lilly, and Ashley.

"The Vampires?" Giles asked.

"Gone," Angel answered, "The Master?"

"Dead," Giles answered in return, "The Hell-Mouth is closed." He looked at Miley and saw her flash back and forth between the blonde girl and herself. "Miley?"

Miley looked at him and suddenly stopped flashing. "Sorry, it's…been a weird day."

"Yeah," Oliver said, "Miley died and everything!" He hooked his arm around Jackson and Giles and Angel and Ms. Calendar all saw the 2 flash between themselves and a brunette boy of their age and a little more height.

Giles ignored this and turned back to Miley. "I should have known that wouldn't stop you." Miley smiled. He glanced at Lilly and saw her flash between herself and a redhead. Suddenly, his mind dismissed that as if it'd never happened and the same happened with Ms. Calendar and Angel.

"So what do we do now?" asked Ms. Calendar.

"I don't know about the rest of you," Giles said, "but I'd very much like to get out of the library. I'm not that fond of it anymore." Miley smiled.

"Hey, I hear there's a dance at the Bronze!" Oliver pointed out, "What's say you we go party? As a group?"

"I like that idea," Lilly said, smiling. She looked at Giles, Ms. Calendar, Jackson, and Angel. "Oh, you guys can come, too!"

"What about him?" asked Ms. Calendar, indicating the Master's bones.

"He's not going anywhere," Miley said, "Loser." The group started to leave.

"I'm not dancing," Giles said.

"We'll see," said Ms. Calendar.

"So what's the story with the car?" asked Oliver.

"Oh, that was me!" Ashley said, "Saving the day!"

Lilly looked at Angel. "You can come, of course. Get something to drink…or maybe not. I hope not."

"By the way," Angel told Miley, hooking his arm around her as they kept walking, "I really like your dress."

"Yeah, yeah, big hit with everyone," Miley said, smiling again.

Lilly, Oliver, Angel, and Miley were sitting at a table in the Bronze.

"I don't know about you guys," Oliver said, "but I'm having a really great time."

* * *

Lilly looked at the stage and noticed that one of the students was up their attempting to sing Kelly Clarkson (and by "attempting" I mean "failing"). She looked at her watch and gasped. "Miley! It's 11:13!" Miley and Angel both looked at her. "11 to midnight is when the students get to try their luck at karaoke. You should sing!"

"Lilly, I told you already," Miley said, "If I sing one of my Hannah songs in front of all these people, they may recognize my voice and know something's up!"

"You're telling me you don't write any songs as just Miley?" Angel asked her, having heard the full story of Hannah Montana about an hour ago.

Miley thought about that for a few seconds. "Well…I did write one about a month." She smiled at him as though hinting that the song was about him.

"Then get up there!" Lilly urged her.

Miley glared at her and then got up and made her way to the stage. _I hope I can remember the words. _That wasn't a problem. She remembered her mom's lucky anklet and looked down at her feet. She'd been wearing it since she'd first tried on the dress. She smiled. She'd died and come back to life wearing that. Now that's good luck! Suddenly, it was like she was alone in her room, singing the song to herself and hoping that Angel was on the deck listening. She played an intro on the piano and then started to sing her song. "_ Everybody needs inspiration…everybody needs a song…a beautiful melody…when the nights are long. 'Cause there is no guarantee…that this life is easy! Yeah, when my world is falling apart and there's no lights to break out the dark, that's when I, I, I look at you. When the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home anymore, that's when I, I, I look at you. When I look at you…I see forgiveness…I see the truth…you love me for who I am…like the stars hold on the moon…right there where they belong…and I know I'm not alone! Yeah, when my world is falling apart and there's no lights to break up the dark, that's when I, I, I look at you. When the waves, are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home anymore, that's when I, I, I look at you. You appear, just like a dream to me, just like kaleidoscope colors that…cover me…all I need…every breath that I breathe. Don't you know you're beautiful? Yeah! When the waves are flooding the shore and I can't find my way home anymore, that's when I, I, I look at you. You appear, just like a dream to me. _"

* * *

In a dark room, a shadow-y figure was watching all these events through a crystal ball. "Nuts," said the figure in a voice that was obviously feminine, "I didn't think the spell would be fading so fast. Oh well, once the next year comes around, that memory will be gone. I just have to renew the spell." She picked up a packet of some strange dust and started pouring it on the crystal ball as she started chanting: "_Realities conjoined, death to all who come, their hearts reflect the damage, their pain has just begun. The Master's death brings joy, but their hope will soon be lost, a soul shall be taken, the final line to be drawn._" She stopped chanting and pouring the dust and a light shone coming from the crystal ball. "I just can't wait till year 5." She laughed maniacally.

**END SEASON **


End file.
